92124 Doing Business 2015 Singapore Economy Profile 2015 Singapore Doing Business 2015 Singapore 2 © 2014 The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank 1818 H Street NW, Washington, DC 20433 Telephone: 202-473-1000; Internet: www.worldbank.org All rights reserved. 1 2 3 4 17 16 15 14 This work is a product of the staff of The World Bank with external contributions. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this work do not necessarily reflect the views of The World Bank, its Board of Executive Directors, or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this work. The boundaries, colors, denominations, and other information shown on any map in this work do not imply any judgment on the part of The World Bank concerning the legal status of any territory or the endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries. Nothing herein shall constitute or be considered to be a limitation upon or waiver of the privileges and immunities of The World Bank, all of which are specifically reserved. This work is available under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (CC BY 3.0) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo. Under the Creative Commons Attribution license, you are free to copy, distribute, transmit, and adapt this work, including for commercial purposes, under the following conditions: Attribution—Please cite the work as follows: World Bank. 2014. Doing Business 2015: Going Beyond Efficiency. Washington, DC: World Bank Group. DOI: 10.1596/978-1-4648-0351-2. License: Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 3.0 IGO Translations—If you create a translation of this work, please add the following disclaimer along with the attribution: This translation was not created by The World Bank and should not be considered an official World Bank translation. The World Bank shall not be liable for any content or error in this translation. Adaptations—If you create an adaptation of this work, please add the following disclaimer along with the attribution: This is an adaptation of an original work by The World Bank. Views and opinions expressed in the adaptation are the sole responsibility of the author or authors of the adaptation and are not endorsed by The World Bank. Third-party content—The World Bank does not necessarily own each component of the content contained within the work. The World Bank therefore does not warrant that the use of any third-party- owned individual component or part contained in the work will not infringe on the rights of those third parties. The risk of claims resulting from such infringement rests solely with you. If you wish to re-use a component of the work, it is your responsibility to determine whether permission is needed for that re-use and to obtain permission from the copyright owner. Examples of components can include, but are not limited to, tables, figures or images. All queries on rights and licenses should be addressed to the Publishing and Knowledge Division, The World Bank, 1818 H Street NW, Washington, DC 20433, USA; fax: 202-522-2625; e-mail: pubrights@worldbank.org. ISBN (paper): 978-1-4648-0351-2 ISBN (electronic): 978-1-4648-0352-9 DOI: 10.1596/978-1-4648-0351-2 ISSN: 1729-2638 Cover design: Corporate Visions, Inc. Doing Business 2015 Singapore 3 CONTENTS Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 4 The business environment .......................................................................................................... 6 Starting a business ..................................................................................................................... 16 Dealing with construction permits ........................................................................................... 22 Getting electricity ....................................................................................................................... 31 Registering property .................................................................................................................. 38 Getting credit .............................................................................................................................. 46 Protecting minority investors ................................................................................................... 53 Paying taxes ................................................................................................................................ 61 Trading across borders .............................................................................................................. 64 Enforcing contracts .................................................................................................................... 68 Resolving insolvency .................................................................................................................. 74 Labor market regulation ........................................................................................................... 77 Distance to frontier and ease of doing business ranking ...................................................... 84 Resources on the Doing Business website .............................................................................. 87 Doing Business 2015 Singapore 4 INTRODUCTION Doing Business sheds light on how easy or difficult it is 1, 2014 (except for the paying taxes indicators, which for a local entrepreneur to open and run a small to cover the period January–December 2013). medium-size business when complying with relevant The Doing Business methodology has limitations. Other regulations. It measures and tracks changes in areas important to business—such as an economy’s regulations affecting 11 areas in the life cycle of a proximity to large markets, the quality of its business: starting a business, dealing with construction infrastructure services (other than those related to permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting trading across borders and getting electricity), the credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, security of property from theft and looting, the trading across borders, enforcing contracts, resolving transparency of government procurement, insolvency and labor market regulation. macroeconomic conditions or the underlying strength of In a series of annual reports Doing Business presents institutions—are not directly studied by Doing Business. quantitative indicators on business regulations and the The indicators refer to a specific type of business, protection of property rights that can be compared generally a local limited liability company operating in across 189 economies, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, the largest business city. Because standard assumptions over time. The data set covers 47 economies in Sub- are used in the data collection, comparisons and Saharan Africa, 32 in Latin America and the Caribbean, 25 benchmarks are valid across economies. The data not in East Asia and the Pacific, 26 in Eastern Europe and only highlight the extent of obstacles to doing business; Central Asia, 20 in the Middle East and North Africa and they also help identify the source of those obstacles, 8 in South Asia, as well as 31 OECD high-income supporting policy makers in designing regulatory reform. economies. The indicators are used to analyze economic More information is available in the full report. Doing outcomes and identify what reforms have worked, where Business 2015 presents the indicators, analyzes their and why. relationship with economic outcomes and presents This economy profile presents the Doing Business business regulatory reforms. The data, along with indicators for Singapore. To allow useful comparison, it information on ordering Doing Business 2015, are also provides data for other selected economies available on the Doing Business website at (comparator economies) for each indicator. The data in http://www.doingbusiness.org. this report are current as of June Doing Business 2015 Singapore 5 CHANGES IN DOING BUSINESS 2015 As part of a 2-year update in methodology, Doing Finally, the name of the employing workers indicator set Business 2015 incorporates 7 important changes. First, has been changed to labor market regulation, and the the ease of doing business ranking as well as all topic- scope of this indicator set has also been changed. The level rankings are now computed on the basis of indicators now focus on labor market regulation distance to frontier scores (see the chapter on the applying to the retail sector rather than the distance to frontier and ease of doing business ranking). manufacturing sector, and their coverage has been Second, for the 11 economies with a population of more expanded to include regulations on labor disputes and than 100 million, data for a second city have been added on benefits provided to workers. The labor market to the data set and the ranking calculation. These regulation indicators continue to be excluded from the economies are Bangladesh, Brazil, China, India, aggregate distance to frontier score and ranking on the Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Russian ease of doing business. Federation and the United States. Third, for getting Beyond these changes there are 3 other updates in credit, the methodology has been revised for both the methodology. For paying taxes, the financial statement strength of legal rights index and the depth of credit variables have been updated to be proportional to 2012 information index. The number of points has been income per capita; previously they were proportional to increased in both indices, from 10 to 12 for the strength 2005 income per capita. For enforcing contracts, the of legal rights index and from 6 to 8 for the depth of value of the claim is now set at twice the income per credit information index. In addition, only credit bureaus capita or $5,000, whichever is greater. For dealing with and registries that cover at least 5% of the adult construction permits, the cost of construction is now set population can receive a score on the depth of credit at 50 times income per capita (before, the cost was information index. assessed by the Doing Business respondents). In addition, Fourth, the name of the protecting investors indicator set this indicator set no longer includes the procedures for has been changed to protecting minority investors to obtaining a landline telephone connection. better reflect its scope—and the scope of the indicator For more details on the changes, see the “What is set has been expanded to include shareholders’ rights in changing in Doing Business?” chapter starting on page corporate governance beyond related-party transactions. 24 of the Doing Business 2015 report. For more details Fifth, the resolving insolvency indicator set has been on the data and methodology, please see the “Data expanded to include an index measuring the strength of Notes” chapter starting on page 114 of the Doing the legal framework for insolvency. Sixth, the calculation Business 2015 report. For more details on the distance to of the distance to frontier score for paying taxes has frontier metric, please see the “Distance to frontier and been changed. The total tax rate component now enters ease of doing business ranking” chapter in this profile. the score in a nonlinear fashion, in an approach different from that used for all other indicators (see the chapter on the distance to frontier and ease of doing business ranking). Doing Business 2015 Singapore 6 THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT For policy makers trying to improve their economy’s regulatory environment for business, a good place to start ECONOMY OVERVIEW is to find out how it compares with the regulatory environment in other economies. Doing Business provides an aggregate ranking on the ease of doing business Region: East Asia & Pacific based on indicator sets that measure and benchmark regulations applying to domestic small to medium-size Income category: High income businesses through their life cycle. Economies are ranked from 1 to 189 by the ease of doing business ranking. This Population: 5,399,200 year's report presents results for 2 aggregate measures: the distance to frontier score and the ease of doing GNI per capita (US$): 54,040 business ranking. The ranking of economies is determined by sorting the aggregate distance to frontier (DTF) scores. DB2015 rank: 1 The distance to frontier score benchmarks economies with respect to regulatory practice, showing the absolute DB2014 rank: 1* distance to the best performance in each Doing Business Change in rank: 0 indicator. An economy’s distance to frontier score is indicated on a scale from 0 to 100, where 0 represents the DB 2015 DTF: 88.3 worst performance and 100 the frontier. (See the chapter on the distance to frontier and ease of doing business). DB 2014 DTF: 88.3 The 10 topics included in the ranking in Doing Business 2015: starting a business, dealing with construction Change in DTF: 0 permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading * DB2014 ranking shown is not last year’s published across borders, enforcing contracts and resolving ranking but a comparable ranking for DB2014 that insolvency. The labor market regulation indicators captures the effects of such factors as data (formerly employing workers) are not included in this corrections and the changes in methodology. See year’s aggregate ease of doing business ranking, but the the data notes starting on page 114 of the Doing data are presented in this year’s economy profile. Business 2015 report for sources and definitions. The aggregate ranking on the ease of doing business benchmarks each economy’s performance on the indicators against that of all other economies in the Doing Business sample (figure 1.1). While this ranking tells much about the business environment in an economy, it does not tell the whole story. The ranking on the ease of doing business, and the underlying indicators, do not measure all aspects of the business environment that matter to firms and investors or that affect the competitiveness of the economy. Still, a high ranking does mean that the government has created a regulatory environment conducive to operating a business. Doing Business 2015 Singapore THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT Figure 1.1 Where economies stand in the global ranking on the ease of doing business Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2015 Singapore THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT For policy makers, knowing where their economy regional average (figure 1.2). The economy’s rankings stands in the aggregate ranking on the ease of doing (figure 1.3) and distance to frontier scores (figure 1.4) business is useful. Also useful is to know how it ranks on the topics included in the ease of doing business relative to comparator economies and relative to the ranking provide another perspective. Figure 1.2 How Singapore and comparator economies rank on the ease of doing business Note: The rankings are benchmarked to June 2014 and based on the average of each economy’s distance to frontier (DTF) scores for the 10 topics included in this year’s aggregate ranking. The distance to frontier score benchmarks economies with respect to regulatory practice, showing the absolute distance to the best performance in each Doing Business indicator. An economy’s distance to frontier score is indicated on a scale from 0 to 100, where 0 represents the worst performance and 100 the frontier. For the economies for which the data cover 2 cities, scores are a population-weighted average for the 2 cities. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2015 Singapore 9 THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT Figure 1.3 Rankings on Doing Business topics - Singapore (Scale: Rank 189 center, Rank 1 outer edge) Figure 1.4 Distance to frontier scores on Doing Business topics - Singapore (Scale: Score 0 center, Score 100 outer edge) Note: The rankings are benchmarked to June 2014 and based on the average of each economy’s distance to frontier (DTF) scores for the 10 topics included in this year’s aggregate ranking. The distance to frontier score benchmarks economies with respect to regulatory practice, showing the absolute distance to the best performance in each Doing Business indicator. An economy’s distance to frontier score is indicated on a scale from 0 to 100, where 0 represents the worst performance and 100 the frontier. For the economies for which the data cover 2 cities, scores are a population-weighted average for the 2 cities. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2015 Singapore 10 THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT Just as the overall ranking on the ease of doing business tells Doing Business introduced the distance to frontier score. This only part of the story, so do changes in that ranking. Yearly measure shows how far on average an economy is from the movements in rankings can provide some indication of best performance achieved by any economy on each Doing changes in an economy’s regulatory environment for firms, Business indicator. but they are always relative. Comparing the measure for an economy at 2 points in time Moreover, year-to-year changes in the overall rankings do allows users to assess how much the economy’s regulatory not reflect how the business regulatory environment in an environment as measured by Doing Business has changed economy has changed over time—or how it has changed in over time—how far it has moved toward (or away from) the different areas. To aid in assessing such changes, most efficient practices and strongest regulations in areas covered by Doing Business (figure 1.5). Figure 1.5 How far has Singapore come in the areas measured by Doing Business? Note: The distance to frontier score shows how far on average an economy is from the best performance achieved by any economy on each Doing Business indicator since 2010, except for getting credit, paying taxes, protecting minority investors and resolving insolvency which had methodology changes in 2014 and thus are only comparable to 2013. The measure is normalized to range between 0 and 100, with 100 representing the best performance (the frontier). See the data notes starting on page 114 of the Doing Business 2015 report for more details on the distance to frontier score. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2015 Singapore 11 THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT The absolute values of the indicators tell another part of regulation—such as a regulatory process that can be the story (table 1.1). The indicators, on their own or in completed with a small number of procedures in a few comparison with the indicators of a good practice days and at a low cost. Comparison of the economy’s economy or those of comparator economies in the indicators today with those in the previous year may region, may reveal bottlenecks reflected in large numbers show where substantial bottlenecks persist—and where of procedures, long delays or high costs. Or they may they are diminishing. reveal unexpected strengths in an area of business Table 1.1 Summary of Doing Business indicators for Singapore Best performer globally Hong Kong SAR, China New Zealand DB2015 Korea, Rep. DB2015 Singapore DB2015 Singapore DB2014 Malaysia DB2015 Indicator Japan DB2015 China DB2015 DB2015 DB2015 Starting a Business 6 6 128 8 83 17 13 1 New Zealand (1) (rank) Starting a Business (DTF 96.48 96.48 77.43 96.38 86.21 94.36 94.90 99.96 New Zealand (99.96) Score) Procedures (number) 3.0 3.0 11.0 3.0 8.0 3.0 3.0 1.0 New Zealand (1.0)* Time (days) 2.5 2.5 31.4 2.5 10.7 4.0 5.5 0.5 New Zealand (0.5) Cost (% of income per 0.6 0.6 0.9 1.4 7.5 14.5 7.2 0.3 Slovenia (0.0) capita) Paid-in min. capital (% 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 112 Economies (0.0)* of income per capita) Dealing with Hong Kong SAR, Construction Permits 2 2 179 1 83 12 28 13 China (1) (rank) Dealing with Hong Kong SAR, Construction Permits 92.84 92.81 43.75 95.53 73.30 85.89 82.49 85.67 China (95.53) (DTF Score) Doing Business 2015 Singapore 12 Best performer globally Hong Kong SAR, China New Zealand DB2015 Korea, Rep. DB2015 Singapore DB2015 Singapore DB2014 Malaysia DB2015 Indicator Japan DB2015 China DB2015 DB2015 DB2015 Hong Kong SAR, Procedures (number) 10.0 10.0 22.0 5.0 12.0 10.0 13.0 10.0 China (5.0) Time (days) 26.0 26.0 244.3 66.0 197.0 29.0 74.0 93.0 Singapore (26.0) Cost (% of warehouse 0.3 0.3 7.6 0.4 0.6 4.3 1.3 0.7 Qatar (0.0)* value) Getting Electricity 11 11 124 13 28 1 27 48 Korea, Rep. (1) (rank) Getting Electricity (DTF 92.45 92.45 66.35 91.54 86.51 99.83 86.67 81.90 Korea, Rep. (99.83) Score) Procedures (number) 4.0 4.0 5.5 4.0 3.4 3.0 5.0 5.0 12 Economies (3.0)* Time (days) 31.0 31.0 143.2 38.0 97.7 18.0 32.0 64.0 Korea, Rep. (18.0)* Cost (% of income per 26.3 27.6 459.4 1.4 0.0 41.1 46.3 78.7 Japan (0.0) capita) Registering Property 24 24 37 96 73 79 75 2 Georgia (1) (rank) Registering Property 84.78 84.80 80.67 66.19 71.33 70.99 71.16 97.05 Georgia (99.88) (DTF Score) Procedures (number) 4.0 4.0 4.0 5.0 6.0 7.0 8.0 2.0 4 Economies (1.0)* Time (days) 4.5 4.5 19.4 35.5 13.0 7.0 13.5 1.0 3 Economies (1.0)* Cost (% of property 2.8 2.8 3.6 7.7 5.8 5.1 3.3 0.1 4 Economies (0.0)* value) Getting Credit (rank) 17 14 71 23 71 36 23 1 New Zealand (1) Getting Credit (DTF 75.00 75.00 50.00 70.00 50.00 65.00 70.00 100.00 New Zealand (100) Score) Strength of legal rights 8 8 4 7 4 5 7 12 3 Economies (12)* index (0-12) Doing Business 2015 Singapore 13 Best performer globally Hong Kong SAR, China New Zealand DB2015 Korea, Rep. DB2015 Singapore DB2015 Singapore DB2014 Malaysia DB2015 Indicator Japan DB2015 China DB2015 DB2015 DB2015 Depth of credit 7 7 6 7 6 8 7 8 23 Economies (8)* information index (0-8) Credit registry coverage 0.0 0.0 33.2 0.0 0.0 0.0 56.2 0.0 Portugal (100.0) (% of adults) Credit bureau coverage 50.8 53.0 0.0 96.1 100.0 100.0 78.6 100.0 23 Economies (100.0)* (% of adults) Protecting Minority 3 2 132 2 35 21 5 1 New Zealand (1) Investors (rank) Protecting Minority 80.00 80.00 45.00 80.83 62.50 66.67 74.17 81.67 New Zealand (81.67) Investors (DTF Score) Extent of conflict of interest regulation 9.3 9.3 5.0 9.0 7.0 7.0 8.7 9.3 Singapore (9.3)* index (0-10) Extent of shareholder governance index (0- 6.7 6.7 4.0 7.2 5.5 6.3 6.2 7.0 France (7.8)* 10) Strength of minority investor protection 8.0 8.0 4.5 8.1 6.3 6.7 7.4 8.2 New Zealand (8.2) index (0-10) United Arab Emirates Paying Taxes (rank) 5 5 120 4 122 25 32 22 (1)* Paying Taxes (DTF United Arab Emirates 97.19 97.19 67.44 98.51 67.19 86.09 83.95 88.04 Score) (99.44)* Payments (number per Hong Kong SAR, 5.0 5.0 7.0 3.0 14.0 10.0 13.0 8.0 year) China (3.0)* Time (hours per year) 82.0 82.0 261.0 78.0 330.0 187.0 133.0 152.0 Luxembourg (55.0) Trading Across Borders 1 1 98 2 20 3 11 27 Singapore (1) (rank) Trading Across Borders 96.47 96.76 71.68 95.36 87.23 93.45 89.94 85.41 Singapore (96.47) Doing Business 2015 Singapore 14 Best performer globally Hong Kong SAR, China New Zealand DB2015 Korea, Rep. DB2015 Singapore DB2015 Singapore DB2014 Malaysia DB2015 Indicator Japan DB2015 China DB2015 DB2015 DB2015 (DTF Score) Documents to export 3 3 8 3 3 3 4 4 Ireland (2)* (number) Time to export (days) 6.0 6.0 21.0 6.0 11.0 8.0 11.0 10.0 5 Economies (6.0)* Cost to export (US$ per 460.0 460.0 823.0 590.0 829.3 670.0 525.0 870.0 Timor-Leste (410.0) container) Cost to export (deflated 460.0 416.2 823.0 590.0 829.3 670.0 525.0 870.0 US$ per container) Documents to import 3 3 5 3 5 3 4 6 Ireland (2)* (number) Time to import (days) 4.0 4.0 24.0 5.0 11.0 7.0 8.0 9.0 Singapore (4.0) Cost to import (US$ per 440.0 440.0 800.0 565.0 1,021.3 695.0 560.0 825.0 Singapore (440.0) container) Cost to import (deflated 440.0 398.1 800.0 565.0 1,021.3 695.0 560.0 825.0 US$ per container) Enforcing Contracts 1 1 35 6 26 4 29 9 Singapore (1) (rank) Enforcing Contracts 89.54 89.54 68.21 80.32 69.95 81.71 69.39 77.84 Singapore (89.54) (DTF Score) Time (days) 150.0 150.0 452.8 360.0 360.0 230.0 425.0 216.0 Singapore (150.0) Cost (% of claim) 25.8 25.8 16.2 21.2 32.2 10.3 37.3 27.2 Iceland (9.0) Procedures (number) 21.0 21.0 37.0 26.0 32.0 32.0 29.0 30.0 Singapore (21.0)* Resolving Insolvency 19 19 53 25 2 5 36 28 Finland (1) (rank) Resolving Insolvency 77.94 77.94 55.31 75.06 93.74 90.06 65.61 71.56 Finland (93.85) (DTF Score) Doing Business 2015 Singapore 15 Best performer globally Hong Kong SAR, China New Zealand DB2015 Korea, Rep. DB2015 Singapore DB2015 Singapore DB2014 Malaysia DB2015 Indicator Japan DB2015 China DB2015 DB2015 DB2015 Time (years) 0.8 1.7 0.8 0.6 1.5 1.0 1.3 Ireland (0.4) Cost (% of estate) 3.0 3.0 22.0 5.0 3.5 3.5 10.0 3.5 Norway (1.0) Outcome (0 as piecemeal sale and 1 as 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 going concern) Recovery rate (cents on 89.7 89.7 36.0 87.2 92.9 83.1 81.3 83.6 Japan (92.9) the dollar) Strength of insolvency 9.5 9.5 11.5 9.0 14.0 14.5 7.0 8.5 5 Economies (15.0)* framework index (0-16) Note: DB2014 rankings shown are not last year’s published rankings but comparable rankings for DB2014 that capture the effects of such factors as data corrections and changes to the methodology. Trading across borders deflated and non-deflated values are identical in DB2015 because it is defined as the base year for the deflator. The best performer on time for paying taxes is defined as the lowest time recorded among all economies in the DB2015 sample that levy the 3 major taxes: profit tax, labor taxes and mandatory contributions, and VAT or sales tax. If an economy has no laws or regulations covering a specific area—for example, insolvency—it receives a “no practice” mark. Similarly, an economy receives a “no practice” or “not possible” mark if regulation exists but is never used in practic e or if a competing regulation prohibits such practice. Either way, a “no practice” mark puts the economy at the bottom of the ranking on the relevant indicator. * Two or more economies share the top ranking on this indicator. A number shown in place of an economy’s name indicates the number of economies that share the top ranking on the indicator. For a list of these economies, see the Doing Business website (http://www.doingbusiness.org). Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2015 Singapore 16 STARTING A BUSINESS Formal registration of companies has many WHAT THE STARTING A BUSINESS immediate benefits for the companies and for business owners and employees. Legal entities can INDICATORS MEASURE outlive their founders. Resources are pooled as several shareholders join forces to start a company. Procedures to legally start and operate a Formally registered companies have access to company (number) services and institutions from courts to banks as well Preregistration (for example, name as to new markets. And their employees can benefit verification or reservation, notarization) from protections provided by the law. An additional benefit comes with limited liability companies. These Registration in the economy’s largest limit the financial liability of company owners to their business city 1 investments, so personal assets of the owners are not Postregistration (for example, social security put at risk. Where governments make registration registration, company seal) easy, more entrepreneurs start businesses in the formal sector, creating more good jobs and Time required to complete each procedure generating more revenue for the government. (calendar days) What do the indicators cover? Does not include time spent gathering information Doing Business measures the ease of starting a business in an economy by recording all procedures Each procedure starts on a separate day (2 officially required or commonly done in practice by procedures cannot start on the same day). an entrepreneur to start up and formally operate an Procedures that can be fully completed industrial or commercial business—as well as the online are recorded as ½ day. time and cost required to complete these procedures. Procedure completed once final document is It also records the paid-in minimum capital that received companies must deposit before registration (or within 3 months). The ranking of economies on the No prior contact with officials ease of starting a business is determined by sorting Cost required to complete each procedure their distance to frontier scores for starting a (% of income per capita) business. These scores are the simple average of the distance to frontier scores for each of the component Official costs only, no bribes indicators. No professional fees unless services required To make the data comparable across economies, by law Doing Business uses several assumptions about the Paid-in minimum capital (% of income business and the procedures. It assumes that all per capita) information is readily available to the entrepreneur and that there has been no prior contact with Deposited in a bank or with a notary before officials. It also assumes that the entrepreneur will registration (or within 3 months) pay no bribes. And it assumes that the business:  Is a limited liability company, located in the  Has a start-up capital of 10 times income per largest business city and is 100% domestically capita. owned . 1  Has a turnover of at least 100 times income per  Has between 10 and 50 employees. capita.  Conducts general commercial or industrial  Does not qualify for any special benefits. activities.  Does not own real estate. 1 For the 11 economies with a population of more than 100 million, data for a second city have been added. Doing Business 2015 Singapore 17 STARTING A BUSINESS Where does the economy stand today? What does it take to start a business in Singapore? largest business city of an economy, except for 11 According to data collected by Doing Business, starting a economies for which the data are a population-weighted business there requires 3.0 procedures, takes 2.5 days, average of the 2 largest business cities. See the chapter costs 0.6% of income per capita and requires paid-in on distance to frontier and ease of doing business minimum capital of 0.0% of income per capita (figure ranking at the end of this profile for more details. 2.1). Most indicator sets refer to a case scenario in the Figure 2.1 What it takes to start a business in Singapore - Paid-in minimum capital (% of income per capita): 0.0 Note: Time shown in the figure above may not reflect simultaneity of procedures. Online procedures account for 0.5 days in the total time calculation. For more information on the methodology of the starting a business indicators, see the Doing Business website (http://www.doingbusiness.org). For details on the procedures reflected here, see the summary at the end of this chapter. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2015 Singapore 18 STARTING A BUSINESS Globally, Singapore stands at 6 in the ranking of 189 average ranking provide other useful information for economies on the ease of starting a business (figure 2.2). assessing how easy it is for an entrepreneur in Singapore The rankings for comparator economies and the regional to start a business. Figure 2.2 How Singapore and comparator economies rank on the ease of starting a business Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2015 Singapore 19 STARTING A BUSINESS Economies around the world have taken steps making it they often are part of a larger regulatory reform easier to start a business—streamlining procedures by program. Among the benefits have been greater firm setting up a one-stop shop, making procedures simpler satisfaction and savings and more registered businesses, or faster by introducing technology and reducing or financial resources and job opportunities. eliminating minimum capital requirements. Many have What business registration reforms has Doing Business undertaken business registration reforms in stages—and recorded in Singapore (table 2.1)? Table 2.1 How has Singapore made starting a business easier—or not? By Doing Business report year from DB2010 to DB2015 DB year Reform Singapore made starting a business easier by combining tax DB2010 registration with business registration on a single online form. Note: For information on reforms in earlier years (back to DB2005), see the Doing Business reports for these years, available at http://www.doingbusiness.org. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2015 Singapore 20 STARTING A BUSINESS What are the details? Underlying the indicators shown in this chapter for STANDARDIZED COMPANY Singapore is a set of specific procedures—the bureaucratic and legal steps that an entrepreneur must complete to incorporate and register a new Legal form: Private Limited Liability Company firm. These are identified by Doing Business through collaboration with relevant local professionals and Paid in minimum capital requirement: SGD 0 the study of laws, regulations and publicly available City: Singapore information on business entry in that economy. Following is a detailed summary of those procedures, Start-up Capital: 10 times GNI per capita along with the associated time and cost. These procedures are those that apply to a company matching the standard assumptions (the “standardized company”) used by Doing Business in collecting the data (see the section in this chapter on what the indicators measure). Table 2.2 Summary of time, cost and procedures for starting a business in Singapore - Time to No. Procedure Cost to complete complete Registration on-line with ACRA including company name search and filing the company incorporation and tax number (GST) The Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) is the national regulator of businesses and public accountants in Singapore. Incorporation is done through Bizfile, an electronic filing system. An application for the approval and reservation of a company name is to be submitted online via Bizfile. An application fee of SGD 15 is payable for each approved company name. It can generally be completed within an hour after payment online. Once a name has been approved, it will be reserved for 60 days. A one-time application for the extension of the reservation period by a further 60 days can be made before the expiry date. The application fee for the extension is SGD 10 per name. Less than one day 1 Entrepreneurs registering a new business can purchase the Business SGD 315 (online procedure) Profile on line at the same time of registration, when filling up the incorporation forms. The processing time is about 15 minutes from the time of successful submission of all documents and all information, and the registration fee payable is SGD 300. The ACRA will issue a notice of incorporation via electronic mail to the law firm or professional firm engaged for the purposes of incorporation upon the successful incorporation of the company together with the registration number of the company. The registration with the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) for the goods and services tax (GST) when (a) its annual taxable turnover exceeds SGD 1 million can be done using the same online forms. Doing Business 2015 Singapore 21 Time to No. Procedure Cost to complete complete Agency: ACRA Make a company seal The company seal is generally obtained from third-party stationers. Generally a market rate of SGD 35 will be charged if the seal is to be collected within 3 days or approximately SGD 70 if the seal is to be 1 day SGD 70 2 collected within 1 day Agency: Seal maker Sign up for Employee Compensation Insurance at an insurance agency Under Section 23(1) of the Work Injury Compensation Act (WICA), Chapter 354, of Singapore, every employer shall insure and maintain insurance under one or more approved policies with an insurer against all liabilities which the company may incur under the provisions of this Act in respect of any employee employed by the company unless the Minister, by notification in the Gazette, waives the requirement of such 1 day no charge 3 insurance in relation to any employer. Time and cost may depend on the arrangement between the company and the insurance agency. Agency: Insurance Agency * Takes place simultaneously with another procedure. Note: Online procedures account for 0.5 days in the total time calculation. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2015 Singapore 22 DEALING WITH CONSTRUCTION PERMITS Regulation of construction is critical to protect the WHAT THE DEALING WITH CONSTRUCTION public. But it needs to be efficient, to avoid excessive PERMITS INDICATORS MEASURE constraints on a sector that plays an important part in every economy. Where complying with building regulations is excessively costly in time and money, Procedures to legally build a warehouse many builders opt out. They may pay bribes to pass (number) inspections or simply build illegally, leading to Submitting all relevant documents and hazardous construction that puts public safety at risk. obtaining all necessary clearances, licenses, Where compliance is simple, straightforward and permits and certificates inexpensive, everyone is better off. Submitting all required notifications and What do the indicators cover? receiving all necessary inspections Doing Business records the procedures, time and cost Obtaining utility connections for water and for a business in the construction industry to obtain sewerage all the necessary approvals to build a warehouse in Registering the warehouse after its the economy’s largest business city, connect it to completion (if required for use as collateral or basic utilities and register the warehouse so that it for transfer of the warehouse) can be used as collateral or transferred to another Time required to complete each procedure entity. (calendar days) The ranking of economies on the ease of dealing with Does not include time spent gathering construction permits is determined by sorting their information distance to frontier scores for dealing with Each procedure starts on a separate day. construction permits. These scores are the simple Procedures that can be fully completed online average of the distance to frontier scores for each of are recorded as ½ day. the component indicators. Procedure considered completed once final To make the data comparable across economies, document is received Doing Business uses several assumptions about the business and the warehouse, including the utility No prior contact with officials connections. Cost required to complete each procedure (% The business: of warehouse value) Official costs only, no bribes  Is a limited liability company operating in the construction business and located in  Will have complete architectural and the largest business city. For the 11 technical plans prepared by a licensed economies with a population of more than architect or engineer. 100 million, data for a second city have  Will be connected to water and sewerage been added. Is domestically owned and (sewage system, septic tank or their operated. equivalent). The connection to each utility  Has 60 builders and other employees. network will be 150 meters (492 feet) long. The warehouse:  Will be used for general storage, such as of books or stationery (not for goods requiring  Is valued at 50 times income per capita. special conditions).  Is a new construction (there was no  Will take 30 weeks to construct (excluding all previous construction on the land). delays due to administrative and regulatory requirements). Doing Business 2015 Singapore 23 DEALING WITH CONSTRUCTION PERMITS Where does the economy stand today? What does it take to comply with the formalities to build an economy, except for 11 economies for which the data a warehouse in Singapore? According to data collected are a population-weighted average of the 2 largest by Doing Business, dealing with construction permits business cities. See the chapter on distance to frontier there requires 10.0 procedures, takes 26.0 days and costs and ease of doing business ranking at the end of this 0.3% of the warehouse value (figure 3.1). Most indicator profile for more details. sets refer to a case scenario in the largest business city of Figure 3.1 What it takes to comply with formalities to build a warehouse in Singapore - Note: Time shown in the figure above may not reflect simultaneity of procedures. Online procedures account for 0.5 days in the total time calculation. For more information on the methodology of the dealing with construction permits indicators, see the Doing Business website (http://www.doingbusiness.org). For details on the procedures reflected here, see the summary at the end of this chapter. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2015 Singapore 24 DEALING WITH CONSTRUCTION PERMITS Globally, Singapore stands at 2 in the ranking of 189 other useful information for assessing how easy it is for economies on the ease of dealing with construction an entrepreneur in Singapore to legally build a permits (figure 3.2). The rankings for comparator warehouse. economies and the regional average ranking provide Figure 3.2 How Singapore and comparator economies rank on the ease of dealing with construction permits Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2015 Singapore 25 DEALING WITH CONSTRUCTION PERMITS Smart regulation ensures that standards are met while an effort to ensure building safety while keeping making compliance easy and accessible to all. Coherent compliance costs reasonable, governments around the and transparent rules, efficient processes and adequate world have worked on consolidating permitting allocation of resources are especially important in sectors requirements. What construction permitting reforms has where safety is at stake. Construction is one of them. In Doing Business recorded in Singapore (table 3.1)? Table 3.1 How has Singapore made dealing with construction permits easier—or not? By Doing Business report year from DB2010 to DB2015 DB year Reform Singapore made dealing with construction permits easier DB2010 through new workplace safety and health regulations allowing companies in low-risk industries to submit documents online. Note: For information on reforms in earlier years (back to DB2006), see the Doing Business reports for these years, available at http://www.doingbusiness.org. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2015 Singapore 26 DEALING WITH CONSTRUCTION PERMITS What are the details? The indicators reported here for Singapore are based BUILDING A WAREHOUSE on a set of specific procedures—the steps that a company must complete to legally build a warehouse—identified by Doing Business through Estimated cost of information collected from experts in construction SGD 3,369,092 construction : licensing, including architects, civil engineers, construction lawyers, construction firms, utility City : Singapore service providers and public officials who deal with building regulations. These procedures are those The procedures, along with the associated time and cost, that apply to a company and structure matching the are summarized below. standard assumptions used by Doing Business in collecting the data (see the section in this chapter on what the indicators cover). Table 3.2 Summary of time, cost and procedures for dealing with construction permits in Singapore - Time to No. Procedure Cost to complete complete Obtain written permission from the Urban Redevelopment Authority The application for permission from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) can be done electronically by a Qualified Professional (QP) through the CORENET Electronic Development Applications (EDA) system. The company must submit a digital EDA form, along with the following: • Proposal and sketch plans for the development • Survey plans for sloping or undulating sites Companies can apply to URA via two schemes: Normal and Plan Lodgment Scheme. Launched in 1995, the Plan Lodgment Scheme allows for projects that fulfill the qualifying criteria (see http://www.ura.gov.sg/dc/lodgment/dc-lodgment-hdb_jtc.htm) to be submitted and approved online immediately. The application is made either through JTC system or through URA's EDA system. The fees for a 1 plan lodgment are SGD 800.00 plus 7% GST. The Plan Lodgment 14 days SGD 2,680 Scheme is applicable to industrial and warehouse development on land owned by JTC and the HDB, which forms about 90% of industrial land in Singapore. All Qualified Persons (i.e. Architects or Engineers) are allowed to submit their development proposals under the Plan Lodgment Scheme. There is no restriction on the size or type of the industrial developments or the QP’s firms. In 2007, nearly 70% (562 out of 830) of the industrial and warehouse development proposals were eligible for approval under the Plan Lodgment Scheme. However, if the land is not under either JTC or Housing and Development Board scheme (HDB is for residential developments), and under freehold ownership the application would go through a normal clearance process. Although the application submitted under the normal scheme itself takes 1 day, it takes on average about 14 days for the URA to process it and grant permission. URA does not have a time limit, but rather operates under a targeted threshold. According to that target 90% of Doing Business 2015 Singapore 27 Time to No. Procedure Cost to complete complete cases must be cleared in 4 weeks. The written permission is valid for 2 years, during which time the work must be completed. The application fee for normal process is SGD 2,500.00 for the first 1,000 sq. m. and SGD 60.00 for each additional 100 sq. m. (plus 7% general service tax which is not included in the case study). The case considered here assumes a commercial warehouse for storing books, which would be classified as a Group 3 land-intensive development. A fee schedule is available at http://www.ura.gov.sg/forms/doc/dc- fee2007.pdf. Agency: Urban Redevelopment Authority * Obtain structural plan approval and building commencement permit Qualified Professionals submit the structural plans through CORENET system operated by the Building and Construction Authority (BCA). The permit will not be issued without the written or provisional permission from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) and payment of any development charges, if applicable. Most companies submit their application to URA and BCA for structural approval at the same time. They can time it in a way that the structural approval is granted a day after the URA issues planning permission. Construction work must commence within 24 months from the approval date. The structural plan approval can be granted along with the building commencement permit that gives the right to physically begin the construction. 2 14 days SGD 3,902 Since 2008 the BCA runs a data management module in its application processing system to monitor its performance standard. It also introduced mobile phone short message and e-mail notification to inform the applicants of their applications status instantaneously. Since September 1, 2005, the fee schedule is as follows: • SGD 300.00 per 100 sq. m. for the first 2,500 sq. m. of standard gross floor area (SGFA) • SGD 200.00 for each subsequent 100 sq. m. of SGFA Hence, in this case, the total fee charged for 1,300 sq. m. is 13 x SGD 300.00 = SGD 3,900.00 Agency: Building & Construction Authority (BCA) * Obtain building plan approval from the Fire Safety & Shelter Department (FSSD) of the Singapore Civil Defence Force 3 10 days SGD 1,951 Qualified Professional, acting on behalf of BuildCo, submits the relevant parts of the application to Fire Safety and Shelter Department (FSSD) of Doing Business 2015 Singapore 28 Time to No. Procedure Cost to complete complete the Singapore Civil Defence Force. The application is made through CORENET system. Simultaneously, the applications can be submitted via CORENET to the National Environment Agency (NEA) for clearance of sewerage/sanitary works, drainage works, pollution control matters and environmental health matters, as well as Land and Transport Authority (LTA) for road plans and parking facility clearance. In other cases, plans must be submitted to the Marine and Port Authority and the National Parks Board. Although, officially it takes only 2 working days to obtain approval from FSSD, the overall time required for approval from NEA and LTA is closer to 7 working days. The technical clearances can be completed while the written permission from URA is still pending. Agency: Fire Safety & Shelter Department/LTA/MEWR * Hold technical consultation with the Central Building Plans Unit of the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources Qualified Professional obtains clearance from NEA on environmental building plan matters. The building plan for the warehouse development for storage of books is registered within 1 working day 1 day no charge 4 based on QP's declaration that the building plans are prepared in accordance with environmental codes. Agency: National Environment Agency * Hold technical consultation with the Land Transport Authority Although no physical inspection is required the Qualified Professional will have to pay SGD 10.00 per 100 sq. m. for clearance of parking 5 proposal. The payment can be made electronically. 1 day SGD 130 Agency: Land Transport Authority * Obtain building plan approval Qualified Professionals can submit the architectural aspects of application along with structural plans through CORENET in a concurrent manner. The guidelines on this concurrent submission for structural plan approval and building plan application can be found on BCA's website (http://www.bca.gov.sg/StructuralPlan/asp_16.html). In 2007, more than 56% of the 3,937 structural plans were submitted in 10 days no charge 6 parallel with the building permits. BCA has a target for building plan approval to be issued in 7 working days. This is in line with efforts to provide faster and more efficient service. The applications are reviewed on a random basis and can be cleared through interactions with Qualified Professionals. The system of random inspections is used for a high quantity of applications and drawings submitted by Qualified Professionals. Doing Business 2015 Singapore 29 Time to No. Procedure Cost to complete complete Agency: Building & Construction Authority (BCA) * Make an online declaration of risk management implementation and notify the Commissioner for Workplace Safety and Health Before March 2010, the Workplace Safety & Health (Registration of Factories) Regulations required all factories engaged in higher risk activities including construction worksites, shipyards, metalworking companies, wafer fabrication, petrochemical, chemical and pharmaceutical plants to be registered before they can commence operations. Registration was valid for only one year. An annual fee depending on the number of persons employed at the premise ranging from SGD 90 (5 or less workers in premise) to SGD 2340 (more than 500 workers in premise) was payable upon registration and renewal. Ministry of Manpower has reviewed the factory registration system for higher risk factories which includes construction worksites and introduced a new one-time registration scheme. From 1 March 2010, 0.5 days no charge 7 factories in the Building and Construction are amongst those which benefit from the new scheme. All factories under this scheme are required to register and pay once for their license with the Ministry without the need to renew their license. Qualifying factories were only required to do two things prior to the commencement of operations: To register once with the Commissioner for Workplace Safety and Health of their operations via the On-line Business Licensing System (OBLS) at https://licences.business.gov.sg and complete the Safety and Health Management System audits/internal review within 2 months from the registration. Agency: Occupational Safety and Health Division, Ministry of Manpower * Obtain water and sewage connection All three connections can be applied for through a one-stop service provided by Singapore Power (SP) Services, a privatized utilities operator. The existing infrastructure allows a new connection within one week. Application for electrical power is to the Singapore Power; application for both portable and Newater water is to PUB. A water service worker has to be engaged by the developer/owner to 8 make a notification for the water service work to PUB. Typically, the 7 days SGD 1,400 new connection can be laid within one week. The connection is made after opening of account and payment of the connection cost. The application for connection of the proposed sewerage/sanitary system to the public sewer is made by the QP through CORENET to the Water Reclamation Network Department (WRN) of PUB. PUB will audit inspect the sewer connection works. There is no charge for the sewer connection works. Doing Business 2015 Singapore 30 Time to No. Procedure Cost to complete complete The cost of water connection depends on the size of the connection. Agency: Singapore Power Services Receive final inspection and approval Once the warehouse construction is completed the Qualified Professional files a request for inspection to BCA through CORENET. BuildCo may request the inspection in advance, that is, before construction activities are completed. BCA officers inspects the completed warehouse together with the architects, consultants and builder. Independently but concurrently, Qualified Professional can 9 submit a request to the FSSD for fire system approval. There is no 1 day no charge physical interaction with the FSSD and the inspection is performed by the Qualified Professional. The Qualified Professional sends the report to FSSD. The approval from FSSD is then sent to BCA electronically through an internal network. Agency: Registered inspector, affiliated with BCA and BuildCo/FSSD Obtain certificate of statutory completion BuildCo does not need to register the newly built warehouse after its completion. 10 days no charge 10 Agency: Building & Construction Authority (BCA) * Takes place simultaneously with another procedure. Note: Online procedures account for 0.5 days in the total time calculation. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2015 Singapore 31 GETTING ELECTRICITY Access to reliable and affordable electricity is vital for WHAT THE GETTING ELECTRICITY businesses. To counter weak electricity supply, many firms in developing economies have to rely on self- INDICATORS MEASURE supply, often at a prohibitively high cost. Whether electricity is reliably available or not, the first step for Procedures to obtain an electricity a customer is always to gain access by obtaining a connection (number) connection. Submitting all relevant documents and What do the indicators cover? obtaining all necessary clearances and permits Doing Business records all procedures required for a Completing all required notifications and local business to obtain a permanent electricity receiving all necessary inspections connection and supply for a standardized warehouse, as well as the time and cost to complete them. These Obtaining external installation works and procedures include applications and contracts with possibly purchasing material for these works electricity utilities, clearances from other agencies Concluding any necessary supply contract and and the external and final connection works. The obtaining final supply ranking of economies on the ease of getting electricity is determined by sorting their distance to Time required to complete each procedure frontier scores for getting electricity. These scores are (calendar days) the simple average of the distance to frontier scores Is at least 1 calendar day for each of the component indicators. To make the data comparable across economies, several Each procedure starts on a separate day assumptions are used. Does not include time spent gathering The warehouse: information  Is owned by a local entrepreneur, located Reflects the time spent in practice, with little in the economy’s largest business city, in follow-up and no prior contact with officials an area where other warehouses are Cost required to complete each procedure located. For the 11 economies with a (% of income per capita) population of more than 100 million, data Official costs only, no bribes for a second city have been added. Excludes value added tax  Is not in a special economic zone where the connection would be eligible for subsidization or faster service.  Is to either the low-voltage or the medium- voltage distribution network and either  Is located in an area with no physical overhead or underground, whichever is more constraints (ie. property not near a railway). common in the area where the warehouse is  Is a new construction being connected to located. Included only negligible length in the electricity for the first time. customer’s private domain.  Is 2 stories, both above ground, with a total  Requires crossing of a 10-meter road but all surface of about 1,300.6 square meters the works are carried out in a public land, so (14,000 square feet), is built on a plot of there is no crossing into other people's 929 square meters (10,000 square feet), is private property. used for storage of refrigerated goods  Involves installing one electricity meter. The The electricity connection: monthly electricity consumption will be 26880 kilowatt hour (kWh). The internal  Is 150 meters long and is a 3-phase, 4-wire electrical wiring has been completed. Y, 140-kilovolt-ampere (kVA) (subscribed capacity) connection. Doing Business 2015 Singapore 32 GETTING ELECTRICITY Where does the economy stand today? What does it take to obtain a new electricity connection Most indicator sets refer to a case scenario in the largest in Singapore? According to data collected by Doing business city of an economy, except for 11 economies for Business, getting electricity there requires 4.0 procedures, which the data are a population-weighted average of the takes 31.0 days and costs 26.3% of income per capita 2 largest business cities. See the chapter on distance to (figure 4.1). frontier and ease of doing business ranking at the end of this profile for more details. Figure 4.1 What it takes to obtain an electricity connection in Singapore - Note: Time shown in the figure above may not reflect simultaneity of procedures. For more information on the methodology of the getting electricity indicators, see the Doing Business website (http://www.doingbusiness.org). For details on the procedures reflected here, see the summary at the end of this chapter. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2015 Singapore 33 GETTING ELECTRICITY Globally, Singapore stands at 11 in the ranking of 189 average ranking provide another perspective in assessing economies on the ease of getting electricity (figure 4.2). how easy it is for an entrepreneur in Singapore to The rankings for comparator economies and the regional connect a warehouse to electricity. Figure 4.2 How Singapore and comparator economies rank on the ease of getting electricity Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2015 Singapore 34 GETTING ELECTRICITY What are the details? The indicators reported here for Singapore are based on OBTAINING AN ELECTRICITY CONNECTION a set of specific procedures—the steps that an entrepreneur must complete to get a warehouse connected to electricity by the local distribution utility— Name of utility: SP PowerGrid Ltd. identified by Doing Business. Data are collected from the distribution utility, then completed and verified by City: Singapore electricity regulatory agencies and independent professionals such as electrical engineers, electrical The procedures are those that apply to a warehouse and contractors and construction companies. The electricity electricity connection matching the standard distribution utility surveyed is the one serving the area assumptions used by Doing Business in collecting the (or areas) in which warehouses are located. If there is a data (see the section in this chapter on what the choice of distribution utilities, the one serving the largest indicators cover). The procedures, along with the number of customers is selected. associated time and cost, are summarized below. Table 4.2 Summary of time, cost and procedures for getting electricity in Singapore - Time to No. Procedure Cost to complete complete The client’s Licensed Electrical Worker (LEW) submits application to SP Services Ltd and awaits quotation of connection fees The customer has to engage and appoint an Electrical Worker licensed (LEW) with the Energy Market Authority (EMA) to design the internal electrical installation, a LEW for the electrical installation works, and a LEW to operate on the installation. The client however, can appoint the same LEW for all three duties. The licensed electrical worker acts as the client's agent for the connection to the grid system. There are three classes of LEW, namely licensed electrician (load < 45kVA), licensed electrical technician (load design < 150kVA) and licensed electrical engineer (no limit on load). Based on the case study's 1 electrical load of 140kVA, the customer needs to appoint either a 9 calendar days SGD 0 licensed electrical technician or licensed electrical engineer. SP Services Ltd serves as a one-stop customer centre for electricity connections. SP Services Ltd receives electricity supply applications, receives payment of connection fee, opens electricity account and makes turn-on appointment with the customer. The appointed LEW submits an application to SP Services Ltd to connect to the grid system, along with 2 copies of the site plan. SP Services Ltd advises the appointed LEW and the client on the approval of the application and provides them with a quotation within 7 calendar days for premises receiving direct service connection from streets mains. Direct service connection from SP PowerGrid's LV network to the client's installation is available for a small load requirement not exceeding Doing Business 2015 Singapore 35 Time to No. Procedure Cost to complete complete 280kVA (400A) in commercial or industrial areas. Agency: SP Services Ltd The client opens an electricity account, makes connection fee payment to SP Services Ltd and receives external works from SP PowerGrid Ltd The customer’s appointed LEW only liaises with one single external party which is SP Services Ltd for opening of account and making payment of connection fee which are done on the same day and same place. External work from SP PowerGrid Ltd commences automatically upon payment for connection fee. No further action is required from the customer. The documents required for opening of account are: - Completed and signed application form; - Copy of business/company registration certificate; - Copy of NRIC/FIN (National Registration Identity Card / Foreign Identification Number) for the authorised signatory of company representative or a letter of authorisation issued by the company indicating the company representative’s name and NRIC/FIN, proof of ownership or tenancy agreement; - Letter from the Authority (Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore) confirming the official address of the premises, and - Initial security deposit in cash (which is refundable when the customer 2 terminates the account) or by the form of banker Guarantee (BG) at the 18 calendar days SGD 17,633.52 point of application; For the warehouse, direct connection is applicable as the applied load is 140 kVA. Services for the provision of electricity supply from the existing overground box to industrial premises in built up area with load demand between 76 kVA and 140 kVA will be managed as follows by SP Services Ltd and SP PowerGrid Ltd: a. Upon receipt of connection fee payment by SP Services Ltd, SP PowerGrid Ltd will commence work and inform the appointed LEW and the client about the date for fixing meter and turn-on of electricity supply; b. The service provided is underground. Thus an excavation permit is needed before SP PowerGrid Ltd can start laying cables. For pragmatic reasons, SP PowerGrid will only apply for the permit after the client has made the connection fee payment and had their intake point ready for connection. c. SP PowerGrid Ltd would work closely with the agencies to have road openings approved within 6 calendar days and thereafter commence the physical cable installation work; Doing Business 2015 Singapore 36 Time to No. Procedure Cost to complete complete d. SP PowerGrid Ltd will carry out meter fixing once the cable installation work is started; e. The service cable will be energised on the next day after the cable installation work is completed. Agency: SP Services Ltd (works by SP Power Grid Ltd) * The appointed Licensed Electrical Worker (LEW) submits and obtains an electrical installation license from the Energy Market Authority (EMA) on behalf of the customer The appointed licensed electrical worker (LEW) submits and obtains an electrical installation license from the Energy Market Authority (EMA) on behalf of the customer. For safety reasons, an electrical installation license issued by EMA is required for the use or operation of an electrical installation with an approved load exceeding 45kVA in a non-domestic premises. The customer has to engage and appoint a LEW who will inspect and certify fitness of the electrical installation. Thereafter the LEW will submit an application for the electrical installation license online through the EMA's ELISE portal at www.ema.gov.sg. The license fee of SGD100/= (for a 12-month license) is to be paid online together with the application. The EMA will check the completeness of the application before issuing 2 calendar days SGD 100 3 the electrical installation license. Application for license may be submitted well in advance of the electricity supply connection date. The LEW may also arrange for the license commencement date to coincide with the electricity supply connection date. Upon approval of the license application, connection of electricity supply can be made anytime when the customer's switchgear and service cable are ready. Agency: Energy Market Authority (EMA) Doing Business 2015 Singapore 37 Time to No. Procedure Cost to complete complete The appointed Licensed Electrical Worker (LEW) submits a turn-on appointment application to SP Services Ltd The documents required for turn-on appointment are: - Certificate of Compliance (COC) issued by the appointed LEW certifying that the (internal) electrical work is conforming to the requirements of the Electricity Regulations and the relevant Singapore Standard Code of Practice; and - A copy of valid electrical installation licence obtained from the Energy Market Authority (EMA). SP Services Ltd process the turn-on appointment application received 4 calendar days SGD 0 4 from the LEW and issues an appointment letter to the LEW for the energisation of the service connection. SP Services Ltd will inform SP PowerGrid Ltd to fix the revenue meter and fix the date for the energisation of the service connection according to SP PowerGrid's service cable installation schedule. SP PowerGrid Ltd carries out the fixing of revenue meter once the installation of service cable work is started and turn-on the service cable a day after the completion of service cable connection. Agency: SP Services Ltd * Takes place simultaneously with another procedure. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2015 Singapore 38 REGISTERING PROPERTY Ensuring formal property rights is fundamental. WHAT THE REGISTERING PROPERTY Effective administration of land is part of that. If INDICATORS MEASURE formal property transfer is too costly or complicated, formal titles might go informal again. And where property is informal or poorly Procedures to legally transfer title on administered, it has little chance of being accepted immovable property (number) as collateral for loans—limiting access to finance. Preregistration (for example, checking for liens, notarizing sales agreement, paying property What do the indicators cover? transfer taxes) Doing Business records the full sequence of Registration in the economy’s largest business procedures necessary for a business to purchase city 2 property from another business and transfer the property title to the buyer’s name. The transaction is Postregistration (for example, filing title with the municipality) considered complete when it is opposable to third parties and when the buyer can use the property, Time required to complete each procedure use it as collateral for a bank loan or resell it. The (calendar days) ranking of economies on the ease of registering Does not include time spent gathering property is determined by sorting their distance to information frontier scores for registering property. These scores are the simple average of the distance to frontier Each procedure starts on a separate day. scores for each of the component indicators. To Procedures that can be fully completed online are recorded as ½ day. make the data comparable across economies, several assumptions about the parties to the Procedure considered completed once final transaction, the property and the procedures are document is received used. No prior contact with officials The parties (buyer and seller): Cost required to complete each procedure  Are limited liability companies, 100% (% of property value) domestically and privately owned and Official costs only, no bribes perform general commercial activities. No value added or capital gains taxes included  Are located in the economy’s largest business city . 2  Is located in a periurban commercial zone, and no rezoning is required.  Have 50 employees each, all of whom are nationals.  Has no mortgages attached, has been under the same ownership for the past 10 years. The property (fully owned by the seller):  Consists of 557.4 square meters (6,000 square  Has a value of 50 times income per capita. feet) of land and a 10-year-old, 2-story The sale price equals the value. warehouse of 929 square meters (10,000  Is registered in the land registry or cada- square feet). The warehouse is in good stre, or both, and is free of title disputes. condition and complies with all safety standards, building codes and legal  Property will be transferred in its entirety. requirements. There is no heating system. 2 For the 11 economies with a population of more than 100 million, data for a second city have been added. Doing Business 2015 Singapore 39 REGISTERING PROPERTY Where does the economy stand today? What does it take to complete a property transfer in Most indicator sets refer to a case scenario in the largest Singapore? According to data collected by Doing business city of an economy, except for 11 economies for Business, registering property there requires 4.0 which the data are a population-weighted average of the procedures, takes 4.5 days and costs 2.8% of the 2 largest business cities. See the chapter on distance to property value (figure 5.1). frontier and ease of doing business ranking at the end of this profile for more details. Figure 5.1 What it takes to register property in Singapore - Note: Time shown in the figure above may not reflect simultaneity of procedures. Online procedures account for 0.5 days in the total time calculation. For more information on the methodology of the registering property indicators, see the Doing Business website (http://www.doingbusiness.org). For details on the procedures reflected here, see the summary at the end of this chapter. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2015 Singapore 40 REGISTERING PROPERTY Globally, Singapore stands at 24 in the ranking of 189 regional average ranking provide other useful economies on the ease of registering property (figure information for assessing how easy it is for an 5.2). The rankings for comparator economies and the entrepreneur in Singapore to transfer property. Figure 5.2 How Singapore and comparator economies rank on the ease of registering property Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2015 Singapore 41 REGISTERING PROPERTY Economies worldwide have been making it easier for the time required substantially—enabling buyers to use entrepreneurs to register and transfer property—such as or mortgage their property earlier. What property by computerizing land registries, introducing time limits registration reforms has Doing Business recorded in for procedures and setting low fixed fees. Many have cut Singapore (table 5.1)? Table 5.1 How has Singapore made registering property easier—or not? By Doing Business report year from DB2010 to DB2015 DB year Reform Singapore made registering property easier by upgrading DB2010 electronic systems and streamlining the administrative procedures of the government agencies involved. Singapore made transferring property easier by introducing an DB2014 online procedure for property transfers. Note: For information on reforms in earlier years (back to DB2005), see the Doing Business reports for these years, available at http://www.doingbusiness.org. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2015 Singapore 42 REGISTERING PROPERTY What are the details? The indicators reported here are based on a set of STANDARD PROPERTY TRANSFER specific procedures—the steps that a buyer and seller must complete to transfer the property to the buyer’s name—identified by Doing Business through information collected from local property lawyers, Property value: SGD 3,369,092 notaries and property registries. These procedures are those that apply to a transaction matching the City: Singapore standard assumptions used by Doing Business in collecting the data (see the section in this chapter on The procedures, along with the associated time and what the indicators cover). cost, are summarized below. Table 5.2 Summary of time, cost and procedures for registering property in Singapore Time to No. Procedure Cost to complete complete Conduct various online searches Legal Requisition Fees (for Due diligence checks at several agencies can be done on-line through a transaction one-stop portal called ‘Intereq’ (www.starsinfo.com.sg). They include: through the portal www.starsinfo.com .sg)- Inland • Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (for Property Tax) Revenue Authority of Singapore: • Land Transport Authority (with respect to Rapid Transit System and SDG43.93 + Street Works on as to whether property is affected by Public Transport projects) SDG3.07GST= SDG47- Land • National Environment Agency (Environmental Health Department and Transport Pollution Control Department on whether the property is affected by Authority : SDG10 public sewerage or environmental-health related projects) + SDG0.70 GST= SDG10.70- 1 • PUB-Water Reclatmation Network Department (to check whether there 3 days Ministry of are any swewrage regulstaions/requirement/conditions/outstanding Environment : liabilities associated with/affecting the property) SDG16.74 + SDG1.26 GST = • Urban Redevelopment Authority (planning regulations). SDG18.90 - PUB- Water Reclamation A land register check at the Singapore Land Authority can be made Network online too at www.inlis.gov.sg. Department :SDG7+SDG0.49 A bankruptcy check is conducted online at www.lawnet.com.sg in order GST = SDG7.49- to ascertain if the seller is affected by winding up actions. Urban Redevelopment A company search (for the seller’s company) is also conducted online Authority : through www.lawnet.com.sg. SDG50+SDG3.50 GST = SDG53.50Administ Doing Business 2015 Singapore 43 Time to No. Procedure Cost to complete complete Once the necessary legal requisition has established that the title of the rative fees (total property is in order, a deposit for the property is paid. Thereafter, SDG18.21) to use pursuant to Section 117 of the Land Titles Act, Chapter 157, a caveat the portal, should be lodged with SLA, once a deposit has been paid. The caveat calculated on the serves as a precautionary step taken by the caveat or pending following basis:- completion of his transaction as well as a notice to others that the Acknowledgement caveator has an interest in the property. The caveat can be lodged online via its online registration system called STARS E-Lodgment at : SDG 0.20 per www.starsinfo.com.sg acknowledgement =SDG1.54- The cost of lodging this Caveat Prior Completion is S$ 64.45 Transaction Fee: SDG 1.5 per legal requisition per Once lodged, a caveat notice will usually be served on the owner of the Government property. Agency =SDG11.27- Agency: Portal at www.starsinfo.com.sg Transmission Charge SSDG 0.5 per kbyte =approx SDG5.40 - Fees for Long-Term Archive: SSDG 400 per retrieval (if needed)* Property Title Information : SDG14.95+SDG1.0 5 GST =SDG16 (using www.inlis.gov.sg )* Property Ownership Information: SDG5.25 (using www.inlis.gov.sg )* Property Encumbrances Information: SDG10.28+SDG0.7 2 GST = SDG11 (using www.inlis.gov.sg )* Enhanced Company Search: SDG17,12 (www.questnet.sg )Company/ Winding-Up Search: SDG7 Doing Business 2015 Singapore 44 Time to No. Procedure Cost to complete complete (using www.lawnet.com.s g) "Buyer Stamp The buyer pays Stamp Duty via electronic transfer online Duty: - Every $100 The buyer needs to pay Stamp Duty within 14 days of the date of or part thereof of Contract. The Stamp Duty can be paid via online transfer at the first $180,000 Less than a day www.estamp.iras.gov.sg. The seller of commercial property is exempt - $1.00 - Every (online 2 from paying Stamp duty. GST is 7%. $100 or part procedure) thereof of the next Agency: Online at www.estamp.iras.gov.sg $180,000 - $2.00 - Thereafter, every $100 or part thereof - $3.00" Lodge transfer at Singapore Land Authority Transfer can be lodged online through SLA’s Singapore Titles Automated Registration System portal www.stars.gov.sg. Effective 1 April 2013, SLA has implemented a fast track registration process for single transfer for Less than a day value. Such transfers will be registered within the same day of lodgment. (online 3 SGD 68.30 The Transfer document has to be lodged at SLA for registration together procedure) with the original title deed. Agency: Singapore Land Authority File transfer notice with Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore "When the property is sold or transferred, an e-Notice of Transfer has to be filed with the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (the ""IRAS"") within 1 month after the sale or transfer. Party may incur a composition fee if the time limit is not complied with. Notice of transfer can only be filed with Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (the ""IRAS"") online. IRAS has launched an enhanced version of the e-Notice of Transfer (eNT) Less than a day system on 8 Oct 2008. This enhanced web-based e-NT service allows (online 4 no cost lawyers to submit Notice of Transfer via IRAS’ myTax Portal at no cost. procedure) The site can be accessed at www.mytax.iras.gov.sg myTaxPortal is available every day, except during the daily maintenance period from 2am to 6am(SGT) from Monday to Saturday and from 2am to 8.30am (SGT) on Sunday. Information required for filing of the notice of transfer include: - Identification No. and the name of the Transferor / Transferee (based Doing Business 2015 Singapore 45 Time to No. Procedure Cost to complete complete on the transfer lodged with SLA), - Consideration, - Property Type e.g. Bungalow. There are no charges when filing the e-Notice of Transfer via myTaxPortal. " Agency: Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) * Takes place simultaneously with another procedure. Note: Online procedures account for 0.5 days in the total time calculation. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2015 Singapore 46 GETTING CREDIT Two types of frameworks can facilitate access to WHAT THE GETTING CREDIT INDICATORS credit and improve its allocation: credit information MEASURE systems and borrowers and lenders in collateral and bankruptcy laws. Credit information systems enable Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 3 lenders’ rights to view a potential borrower’s financial history (positive or negative)—valuable information to Rights of borrowers and lenders through consider when assessing risk. And they permit collateral laws borrowers to establish a good credit history that will Protection of secured creditors’ rights through allow easier access to credit. Sound collateral laws bankruptcy laws enable businesses to use their assets, especially Depth of credit information index (0–8) 4 movable property, as security to generate capital— while strong creditors’ rights have been associated Scope and accessibility of credit information with higher ratios of private sector credit to GDP. distributed by credit bureaus and credit registries What do the indicators cover? Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) Doing Business assesses the sharing of credit information and the legal rights of borrowers and Number of individuals and firms listed in lenders with respect to secured transactions through largest credit bureau as percentage of adult 2 sets of indicators. The depth of credit information population index measures rules and practices affecting the Credit registry coverage (% of adults) coverage, scope and accessibility of credit Number of individuals and firms listed in information available through a credit registry or a credit registry as percentage of adult credit bureau. The strength of legal rights index population measures whether certain features that facilitate lending exist within the applicable collateral and bankruptcy laws. Doing Business uses two case scenarios, Case A and Case B, to determine the scope of the secured transactions system, involving a  Has up to 50 employees. secured borrower and a secured lender and  Is 100% domestically owned, as is the lender. examining legal restrictions on the use of movable collateral (for more details on each case, see the Data The ranking of economies on the ease of getting Notes section of the Doing Business 2015 report). credit is determined by sorting their distance to These scenarios assume that the borrower: frontier scores for getting credit. These scores are the distance to frontier score for the strength of legal  Is a private limited liability company. rights index and the depth of credit information  Has its headquarters and only base of index. operations in the largest business city. For the 11 economies with a population of more than 100 million, data for a second city have been added. 3 For the legal rights index, 2 new points are added in Doing Business 2015 for new data collected to assess the overall legal framework for secured transactions and the functioning of the collateral registry. 4 For the credit information index, 2 new points are added in Doing Business 2015 for new data collected on accessing borrowers’ credit information online and availability of credit scores. Doing Business 2015 Singapore 47 GETTING CREDIT Where does the economy stand today? How well do the credit information system and collateral Globally, Singapore stands at 17 in the ranking of 189 and bankruptcy laws in Singapore facilitate access to economies on the ease of getting credit (figure 6.1). The credit? The economy has a score of 7 on the depth of rankings for comparator economies and the regional credit information index and a score of 8 on the strength average ranking provide other useful information for of legal rights index (see the summary of scoring at the assessing how well regulations and institutions in end of this chapter for details). Higher scores indicate Singapore support lending and borrowing. more credit information and stronger legal rights for borrowers and lenders. Figure 6.1 How Singapore and comparator economies rank on the ease of getting credit Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2015 Singapore 48 GETTING CREDIT One way to put an economy’s score on the getting credit rights index for Singapore and shows the scores for indicators into context is to see where the economy comparator economies as well as the regional average stands in the distribution of scores across economies. score. Figure 6.3 shows the same for the depth of credit Figure 6.2 highlights the score on the strength of legal information index. Figure 6.2 How strong are legal rights for borrowers Figure 6.3 How much credit information is shared — and lenders? and how widely? Economy scores on strength of legal rights index Economy scores on depth of credit information index Note: Higher scores indicate that collateral and bankruptcy Note: Higher scores indicate the availability of more credit laws are better designed to facilitate access to credit. information, from either a credit registry or a credit bureau, Source: Doing Business database. to facilitate lending decisions. If the credit bureau or registry is not operational or covers less than 5% of the adult population, the total score on the depth of credit information index is 0. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2015 Singapore 49 GETTING CREDIT When economies strengthen the legal rights of lenders information, they can increase entrepreneurs’ access to and borrowers under collateral and bankruptcy laws, and credit. What credit reforms has Doing Business recorded increase the scope, coverage and accessibility of credit in Singapore (table 6.1)? Table 6.1 How has Singapore made getting credit easier—or not? By Doing Business report year from DB2010 to DB2015 DB year Reform Singapore improved its credit information system by collecting DB2011 and distributing information on firms. Singapore improved its credit information system by DB2014 guaranteeing by law borrowers’ right to inspect their own data. Note: For information on reforms in earlier years (back to DB2005), see the Doing Business reports for these years, available at http://www.doingbusiness.org. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2015 Singapore 50 GETTING CREDIT What are the details? The getting credit indicators reported here for Singapore The data on the legal rights of borrowers and lenders are are based on detailed information collected in that gathered through a survey of financial lawyers and economy. The data on credit information sharing are verified through analysis of laws and regulations as well collected through a survey of a credit registry and/or as public sources of information on collateral and credit bureau (if one exists). To construct the depth of bankruptcy laws. For the strength of legal rights index, a credit information index, a score of 1 is assigned for each score of 1 is assigned for each of 10 aspects related to of 8 features of the credit registry or credit bureau (see legal rights in collateral law and 2 aspects in bankruptcy summary of scoring below). law. Strength of legal rights index (0–12) Index score: 8 Does an integrated or unified legal framework for secured transactions that extends to the creation, publicity and enforcement of functional equivalents to security interests in movable No assets exist in the economy? Does the law allow businesses to grant a non possessory security right in a single category of Yes movable assets, without requiring a specific description of collateral? Does the law allow businesses to grant a non possessory security right in substantially all of Yes its assets, without requiring a specific description of collateral? May a security right extend to future or after-acquired assets, and may it extend automatically Yes to the products, proceeds or replacements of the original assets? Is a general description of debts and obligations permitted in collateral agreements; can all types of debts and obligations be secured between parties; and can the collateral agreement Yes include a maximum amount for which the assets are encumbered? Is a collateral registry in operation for both incorporated and non-incorporated entities, that is unified geographically and by asset type, with an electronic database indexed by debtor's No name? Does a notice-based collateral registry exist in which all functional equivalents can be No registered? Does a modern collateral registry exist in which registrations, amendments, cancellations and Yes searches can be performed online by any interested third party? Are secured creditors paid first (i.e. before tax claims and employee claims) when a debtor Yes defaults outside an insolvency procedure? Are secured creditors paid first (i.e. before tax claims and employee claims) when a business is Yes liquidated? Are secured creditors subject to an automatic stay on enforcement when a debtor enters a court-supervised reorganization procedure? Does the law protect secured creditors’ rights by No providing clear grounds for relief from the stay and/or sets a time limit for it? Doing Business 2015 Singapore 51 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) Index score: 8 Does the law allow parties to agree on out of court enforcement at the time a security interest is created? Does the law allow the secured creditor to sell the collateral through Yes public auction and private tender, as well as, for the secured creditor to keep the asset in satisfaction of the debt? Depth of credit information index (0–8) Credit bureau Credit registry Index score: 7 Are data on both firms and individuals distributed? Yes No 1 Are both positive and negative credit data distributed? Yes No 1 Are data from retailers or utility companies - in addition to data from banks and financial institutions - No No 0 distributed? Are at least 2 years of historical data distributed? (Credit bureaus and registries that distribute more than 10 years of negative data or erase data on Yes No 1 defaults as soon as they are repaid obtain a score of 0 for this component.) Are data on loan amounts below 1% of income per Yes No 1 capita distributed? By law, do borrowers have the right to access their Yes No 1 data in the credit bureau or credit registry? Can banks and financial institutions access borrowers’ credit information online (for example, through an Yes No 1 online platform, a system-to-system connection or both)? Are bureau or registry credit scores offered as a value- added service to help banks and financial institutions Yes No 1 assess the creditworthiness of borrowers? Note: Prior to Doing Business 2015, the depth of credit information index covered only the first 6 features listed above. An economy receives a score of 1 if there is a "yes" to either bureau or registry. If the credit bureau or registry is not operational or covers less than 5% of the adult population, the total score on the depth of credit information index is 0. Credit bureau Credit registry Coverage (% of adults) (% of adults) Number of firms 114,400 0 Number of individuals 1,910,100 0 Percent of total 50.8 0.0 Doing Business 2015 Singapore 52 Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2015 Singapore 53 PROTECTING MINORITY INVESTORS Protecting minority investors matters for the ability of companies to raise the capital they need to grow, WHAT THE PROTECTING MINORITY innovate, diversify and compete. Effective regulations INVESTORS INDICATORS MEASURE define related-party transactions precisely, promote clear and efficient disclosure requirements, require shareholder participation in major decisions of the Extent of disclosure index (0–10) company and set detailed standards of accountability Review and approval requirements for related-party for company insiders. transactions ; Disclosure requirements for related-party transactions What do the indicators cover? Doing Business measures the protection of minority Extent of director liability index (0–10) investors from conflicts of interest through one set of Ability of minority shareholders to sue and hold interested indicators and shareholders’ rights in corporate directors liable for prejudicial related-party transactions; governance through another. The ranking of economies Available legal remedies (damages, disgorgement of on the strength of minority investor protections is profits, fines, imprisonment, rescission of the transaction) determined by sorting their distance to frontier scores Ease of shareholder suits index (0–10) for protecting minority investors. These scores are the Access to internal corporate documents; Evidence simple average of the distance to frontier scores for the obtainable during trial and allocation of legal expenses extent of conflict of interest regulation index and the extent of shareholder governance index. To make the Extent of conflict of interest regulation index data comparable across economies, a case study uses (0–10) several assumptions about the business and the Sum of the extent of disclosure, extent of director liability transaction. and ease of shareholder indices, divided by 3 The business (Buyer): Extent of shareholder rights index (0-10.5)  Is a publicly traded corporation listed on the Shareholders’ rights and role in major corporate decisions economy’s most important stock exchange (or at least a large private company with Strength of governance structure index (0- multiple shareholders). 10.5) Governance safeguards protecting shareholders from  Has a board of directors and a chief executive undue board control and entrenchment officer (CEO) who may legally act on behalf of Buyer where permitted, even if this is not Extent of corporate transparency index (0-9) specifically required by law. Corporate transparency on ownership stakes, The transaction involves the following details: compensation, audits and financial prospects  Mr. James, a director and the majority Extent of shareholder governance index shareholder of the company, proposes that (0–10) the company purchase used trucks from Sum of the extent of shareholders rights, strength of another company he owns. governance structure and extent of corporate transparency indices, divided by 3  The price is higher than the going price for used trucks, but the transaction goes forward. Strength of investor protection index (0–10)  All required approvals are obtained, and all Simple average of the extent of conflict of interest required disclosures made, though the regulation and extent of shareholder governance indices transaction is prejudicial to Buyer.  Shareholders sue the interested parties and the members of the board of directors. Doing Business 2015 Singapore 54 PROTECTING MINORITY INVESTORS Where does the economy stand today? How strong are minority investor protections against protection index (figure 7.1). While the indicator does self-dealing in Singapore? The economy has a score of not measure all aspects related to the protection of 8.0 on the strength of minority investor protection index, minority investors, a higher ranking does indicate that an with a higher score indicating stronger protections. economy’s regulations offer stronger minority investor protections against self-dealing in the areas measured. Globally, Singapore stands at 3 in the ranking of 189 economies on the strength of minority investor Figure 7.1 How Singapore and comparator economies perform on the strength of minority investor protection index Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2015 Singapore 55 PROTECTING MINORITY INVESTORS One way to put an economy’s scores on the protecting indices for Singapore in 2014. A summary of scoring for minority investors indicators into context is to see where the protecting minority investors indicators at the end of the economy stands in the distribution of scores across this chapter provides details on how the indices were comparator economies. Figures 7.2 through 7.7 highlight calculated. the scores on the various minority investor protection Figure 7.2 How extensive are disclosure Figure 7.3 How extensive is the liability regime for directors? requirements? Extent of director liability index (0-10) Extent of disclosure index (0-10) Note: Higher scores indicate greater liability of directors. Note: Higher scores indicate greater disclosure. Source: Doing Business database. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2015 Singapore 56 PROTECTING MINORITY INVESTORS Figure 7.4 How easy is accessing internal corporate documents? Ease of shareholder suits index (0-10) Note: Higher scores indicate greater minority shareholder access to evidence before and during trial. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2015 Singapore 57 PROTECTING MINORITY INVESTORS Figure 7.5 How extensive are shareholder rights? Extent of shareholder rights index (0-10.5) Note: The higher the score, the stronger the protections. Source: Doing Business database. Figure 7.6 How strong is the governance structure? Strength of governance structure index (0-10.5) Note: Higher scores indicate more stringent governance structure requirements. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2015 Singapore 58 Figure 7.7 How extensive is corporate transparency? Extent of corporate transparency index (0-9) Note: Higher scores indicate greater transparency. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2015 Singapore 59 PROTECTING MINORITY INVESTORS What are the details? The protecting minority investors indicators reported to disclosure, director liability, shareholder suits, here for Singapore are based on detailed information shareholder rights, governance structure and corporate collected through a survey of corporate and securities transparency in a standard case study (for more details, lawyers about securities regulations, company laws and see the Data Notes section of the Doing Business 2015 court rules of evidence and procedure. To construct the report). The summary below shows the details underlying six indicators on minority investor protection, scores are the scores for Singapore. assigned to each based on a range of conditions relating Table 7.2 Summary of scoring for the protecting minority investors indicators in Singapore Answer Score Extent of disclosure index (0-10) 10.0 Which corporate body can provide legally sufficient Shareholders excluding interested 3 approval for the Buyer-Seller transaction? (0-3) parties Is disclosure by the interested director to the board of Full disclosure of all material facts 2 directors required? (0-2) Is disclosure of the transaction in published periodic filings Disclosure on the transaction and 2 (annual reports) required? (0-2) on the conflict of interest Is immediate disclosure of the transaction to the public Disclosure on the transaction and 2 and/or shareholders required? (0-2) on the conflict of interest Must an external body review the terms of the transaction Yes 1 before it takes place? (0-1) Extent of director liability index (0-10) 9.0 Can shareholders sue directly or derivatively for the damage caused by the Buyer-Seller transaction to the company? (0- Yes 1 1) Can shareholders hold the interested director liable for the Liable if unfair or prejudicial 2 damage caused by the transaction to the company? (0-2) Can shareholders hold members of the approving body liable for the damage cause by the transaction to the Liable if unfair or prejudicial 2 company? (0-2) Must the interested director pay damages for the harm caused to the company upon a successful claim by a Yes 1 shareholder plaintiff? (0-1) Must the interested director repay profits made from the transaction upon a successful claim by a shareholder Yes 1 plaintiff? (0-1) Can both fines and imprisonment be applied against the Yes 1 interested indrector? (0-1) Can a court void the transaction upon a successful claim by Voidable if negligently concluded 1 a shareholder plaintiff? (0-2) Ease of shareholder suits index (0-10) 9.0 Before filing suit, can shareholders owning 10% of the company’s share capital inspect the transaction documents? Yes 1 (0-1) Can the plaintiff obtain any documents from the defendant No 3 Doing Business 2015 Singapore 60 and witnesses during trial? (0-3) Can the plaintiff request categories of documents from the Yes 1 defendant without identifying specific ones? (0-1) Can the plaintiff directly question the defendant and Yes 2 witnesses during trial? (0-2) Is the level of proof required for civil suits lower than that of Yes 1 criminal cases? (0-1) Can shareholder plaintiffs recover their legal expenses from Yes if successful 1 the company? (0-2) Strength of minority investor protection index (0-10) 8.0 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0-10) 9.3 Extent of shareholder rights index (0-10.5) 6.0 Can shareholders amend company bylaws or statutes with a No 0 simple majority? Can shareholders owning 10% of the company's share Yes 1.5 capital call for an extraordinary meeting of shareholders? Can shareholders remove members of the board of Yes 1.5 directors before the end of their term. Must a company obtain its shareholders’ approval every Yes 1.5 time it issues new shares? Are shareholders automatically granted subscription rights No 0 on new shares? Must shareholders approve the election and dismissal of the Yes 1.5 external auditor? Can shareholders freely trade shares prior to a major No 0 corporate action or meeting of shareholders? Strength of governance structure index (0-10.5) 6.5 Is the CEO barred from also serving as chair of the board of Yes 1.5 directors? Must the board of directors include independent board Yes for listed companies 1 members? Must a company have a separate audit committee? Yes for listed companies 1 Must changes to the voting rights of a series or class of shares be approved only by the holders of the affected Yes 1.5 shares? Must a potential acquirer make a tender offer to all Yes 1.5 shareholders upon acquiring 50% of a company? Is cross-shareholding between 2 independent companies No 0 limited to 10% of outstanding shares? Is a subsidiary barred from acquiring shares issued by its No 0 parent company? Extent of corporate transparency index (0-9) 7.5 Must ownership stakes representing 10% be disclosed? Yes 1.5 Must information about board members’ other directorships as well as basic information on their primary employment Yes 1.5 be disclosed? Must the compensation of individual managers be No 0 disclosed? Must financial statements contain explanatory notes on significant accounting policies, trends, risks, uncertainties Yes 1.5 and other factors influencing the reporting? Must annual financial statements be audited by an external Yes 1.5 Doing Business 2015 Singapore 61 auditor? Must audit reports be disclosed to the public? Yes 1.5 Extent of shareholder governance index (0-10) 6.7 Source: Doing Business database. PAYING TAXES Taxes are essential. The level of tax rates needs to be carefully chosen—and needless complexity in tax WHAT THE PAYING TAXES INDICATORS rules avoided. Firms in economies that rank better MEASURE on the ease of paying taxes in the Doing Business study tend to perceive both tax rates and tax Tax payments for a manufacturing company administration as less of an obstacle to business in 2013 (number per year adjusted for according to the World Bank Enterprise Survey electronic and joint filing and payment) research. Total number of taxes and contributions paid, What do the indicators cover? including consumption taxes (value added tax, sales tax or goods and service tax) Using a case scenario, Doing Business measures the taxes and mandatory contributions that a medium- Method and frequency of filing and payment size company must pay in a given year as well as the Time required to comply with 3 major taxes administrative burden of paying taxes and (hours per year) contributions. This case scenario uses a set of financial statements and assumptions about Collecting information and computing the tax payable transactions made over the year. Information is also compiled on the frequency of filing and payments as Completing tax return forms, filing with well as time taken to comply with tax laws. The proper agencies ranking of economies on the ease of paying taxes is Arranging payment or withholding determined by sorting their distance to frontier scores on the ease of paying taxes. These scores are Preparing separate tax accounting books, if required the simple average of the distance to frontier scores for each of the component indicators, with a Total tax rate (% of profit before all taxes) threshold and a nonlinear transformation applied to Profit or corporate income tax one of the component indicators, the total tax rate . 5 The financial statement variables have been updated Social contributions and labor taxes paid by to be proportional to 2012 income per capita; the employer previously they were proportional to 2005 income Property and property transfer taxes per capita. To make the data comparable across Dividend, capital gains and financial economies, several assumptions are used. transactions taxes  TaxpayerCo is a medium-size business that Waste collection, vehicle, road and other taxes started operations on January 1, 2012.  Taxes and mandatory contributions include  The business starts from the same financial corporate income tax, turnover tax and all position in each economy. All the taxes labor taxes and contributions paidof by the 5 The nonlinear distance to frontier for the total tax rate is equal to the distance to frontier for the total tax rate to the power 0.8. The threshold is defined as and mandatory the total contributions tax rate at the 15th percentilepaid during of the company. overall distribution for all years included in the analysis. It is calculated and adjusted on a the yearly basis. second The thresholdyear of is not operation based are recorded. on any economic theory of an “optimal tax rate” that minimizes distortions or maximizes efficiency in the tax system of an economy overall. Instead, it is mainly empirical in nature, set  range Alower at the end ofstandard of deductions the distribution and of tax rates levied on medium-size  Taxes and mandatory contributions are exemptions enterprises in the manufacturing sector as observed through the paying taxes indicators. are also This reduces recorded. the bias in the indicators toward economies that do not need to levyat measured all levels significant government. ofon taxes companies like the Doing Business standardized case study company because they raise public revenue in other ways—for example, through taxes on foreign companies, through taxes on sectors other than manufacturing or from natural resources (all of which are outside the scope of the methodology). This year’s threshold is 26.1%. Doing Business 2015 Singapore 62 PAYING TAXES Where does the economy stand today? What is the administrative burden of complying with 2 largest business cities. See the chapter on distance to taxes in Singapore—and how much do firms pay in frontier and ease of doing business ranking at the end of taxes? On average, firms make 5.0 tax payments a year, this profile for more details. spend 82.0 hours a year filing, preparing and paying Globally, Singapore stands at 5 in the ranking of 189 taxes and pay total taxes amounting to 18.4% of profit economies on the ease of paying taxes (figure 8.1). The (see the summary at the end of this chapter for details). rankings for comparator economies and the regional Most indicator sets refer to a case scenario in the largest average ranking provide other useful information for business city of an economy, except for 11 economies for assessing the tax compliance burden for businesses in which the data are a population-weighted average of the Singapore. Figure 8.1 How Singapore and comparator economies rank on the ease of paying taxes Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2015 Singapore 63 PAYING TAXES What are the details? The indicators reported here for Singapore are based LOCATION OF STANDARDIZED COMPANY on the taxes and contributions that would be paid by a standardized case study company used by Doing Business in collecting the data (see the section in this City: Singapore chapter on what the indicators cover). Tax practitioners are asked to review a set of financial statements as well as a standardized list of assumptions and transactions that the company The taxes and contributions paid are listed in the completed during its 2nd year of operation. summary below, along with the associated number of Respondents are asked how much taxes and payments, time and tax rate. mandatory contributions the business must pay and how these taxes are filed and paid. Table 8.2 Summary of tax rates and administration Total tax Notes on Tax or mandatory Payments Notes on Time Statutory Tax base rate (% of total tax contribution (number) payments (hours) tax rate profit) rate Employer paid - Social gross 1 online filing 10 16% 15.1 security contributions salaries taxable Corporate income tax 1 32 17% 2.2 profit property Property tax 1 online filing 0 10% 1.1 value engine Road tax 1 0 fixed fee 0 size Employee paid - Social gross 0 paid jointly 0 20% 0 withheld security contributions salaries value not Value added tax (GST) 1 online filing 40 7% 0 added included Totals 5.0 82.0 18.4 Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2015 Singapore 64 TRADING ACROSS BORDERS In today’s globalized world, making trade between WHAT THE TRADING ACROSS BORDERS economies easier is increasingly important for INDICATORS MEASURE business. Excessive document requirements, burdensome customs procedures, inefficient port operations and inadequate infrastructure all lead to Documents required to export and import extra costs and delays for exporters and importers, (number) stifling trade potential. Research shows that Bank documents exporters in developing countries gain more from a Customs clearance documents 10% drop in their trading costs than from a similar reduction in the tariffs applied to their products in Port and terminal handling documents global markets. Transport documents What do the indicators cover? Time required to export and import (days) Doing Business measures the time and cost Obtaining, filling out and submitting all the (excluding tariffs and the time and cost for sea documents transport) associated with exporting and importing a Inland transport and handling standard shipment of goods by sea transport, and the number of documents necessary to complete the Customs clearance and inspections transaction. The indicators cover predefined stages Port and terminal handling such as documentation requirements and procedures Does not include sea transport time at customs and other regulatory agencies as well as at the port. They also cover trade logistics, including Cost required to export and import (US$ per the time and cost of inland transport to the largest container) business city. The ranking of economies on the ease All documentation of trading across borders is determined by sorting their distance to frontier scores for trading across Inland transport and handling borders. These scores are the simple average of the Customs clearance and inspections distance to frontier scores for each of the component Port and terminal handling indicators. To make the data comparable across economies, Doing Business uses several assumptions Official costs only, no bribes about the business and the traded goods. The business:  Is located in the economy’s largest The traded product: business city. For the 11 economies with a population of more than 100 million, data  Is not hazardous nor includes military items. for a second city have been added.  Does not require refrigeration or any other  Is a private, limited liability company, special environment. domestically owned and does not operate  Do not require any special phytosanitary or with special export or import privileges. environmental safety standards other than  Conducts export and import activities, but accepted international standards. does not have any special accreditation  Is one of the economy’s leading export or such as an authorized economic operator import products. status.  Is transported in a dry-cargo, 20-foot full container load. Doing Business 2015 Singapore 65 TRADING ACROSS BORDERS Where does the economy stand today? What does it take to export or import in Singapore? average of the 2 largest business cities. See the chapter According to data collected by Doing Business, exporting on distance to frontier and ease of doing business a standard container of goods requires 3 documents, ranking at the end of this profile for more details. takes 6.0 days and costs $460.0. Importing the same Globally, Singapore stands at 1 in the ranking of 189 container of goods requires 3 documents, takes 4.0 days economies on the ease of trading across borders (figure and costs $440.0 (see the summary of four predefined 9.1). The rankings for comparator economies and the stages and documents at the end of this chapter for regional average ranking provide other useful details). Most indicator sets refer to a case scenario in information for assessing how easy it is for a business in the largest business city of an economy, except for 11 Singapore to export and import goods. economies for which the data are a population-weighted Figure 9.1 How Singapore and comparator economies rank on the ease of trading across borders Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2015 Singapore 66 TRADING ACROSS BORDERS What are the details? The indicators reported here for Singapore are based LOCATION OF STANDARDIZED COMPANY on a set of specific predefined stages for trading a standard shipment of goods by ocean transport (see the section in this chapter on what the indicators Port Name: Singapore cover). Information on the required documents and the time and cost to complete export and import is City: Singapore collected from local freight forwarders, shipping lines, The predefined stages, and the associated time and cost, customs brokers, port officials and banks. for exporting and importing a standard shipment of goods are listed in the summary below, along with the required documents. Table 9.2 Summary of predefined stages and documents for trading across borders in Singapore Stages to export Time (days) Cost (US$) Customs clearance and inspections 1 50 Documents preparation 2 120 Inland transportation and handling 2 140 Ports and terminal handling 1 150 Totals 6 460 Stages to import Time (days) Cost (US$) Customs clearance and inspections 1 50 Documents preparation 1 100 Inland transportation and handling 1 140 Ports and terminal handling 1 150 Totals 4 440 Doing Business 2015 Singapore 67 Documents to export Bill of lading Commercial Invoice Customs export declaration Documents to import Bill of lading Commercial invoice Customs import declaration Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2015 Singapore 68 ENFORCING CONTRACTS Effective commercial dispute resolution has many WHAT THE ENFORCING CONTRACTS benefits. Courts are essential for entrepreneurs INDICATORS MEASURE because they interpret the rules of the market and protect economic rights. Efficient and transparent courts encourage new business relationships because Procedures to enforce a contract through businesses know they can rely on the courts if a new the courts (number) customer fails to pay. Speedy trials are essential for Steps to file and serve the case small enterprises, which may lack the resources to Steps for trial and judgment stay in business while awaiting the outcome of a long court dispute. Steps to enforce the judgment What do the indicators cover? Time required to complete procedures (calendar days) Doing Business measures the efficiency of the judicial system in resolving a commercial dispute before Time to file and serve the case local courts. Following the step-by-step evolution of Time for trial and obtaining judgment a standardized case study, it collects data relating to Time to enforce the judgment the time, cost and procedural complexity of resolving a commercial lawsuit. The ranking on the ease of Cost required to complete procedures (% of enforcing contracts is the simple average of the claim) percentile rankings on its component indicators: Average attorney fees procedures, time and cost. Court costs The dispute in the case study involves the breach of a sales contract between 2 domestic businesses. The Enforcement costs case study assumes that the court hears an expert on the quality of the goods in dispute. This distinguishes the case from simple debt enforcement. To make the data comparable across economies, Doing Business uses several assumptions about the case:  The seller and buyer are located in the economy’s largest business city. For the 11 economies with a population of more than  The seller requests a pretrial attachment to 100 million, data for a second city have secure the claim. been added.  The dispute on the quality of the goods  The buyer orders custom-made goods, requires an expert opinion. then fails to pay.  The judge decides in favor of the seller; there  The seller sues the buyer before a is no appeal. competent court.  The seller enforces the judgment through a  The value of the claim is 200% of the public sale of the buyer’s movable assets. income per capita or the equivalent in local currency of USD 5,000, whichever is greater. Doing Business 2015 Singapore 69 ENFORCING CONTRACTS Where does the economy stand today? How efficient is the process of resolving a commercial business cities. See the chapter on distance to frontier dispute through the courts in Singapore? According to and ease of doing business ranking at the end of this data collected by Doing Business, contract enforcement profile for more details. takes 150.0 days, costs 25.8% of the value of the claim Globally, Singapore stands at 1 in the ranking of 189 and requires 21.0 procedures (see the summary at the economies on the ease of enforcing contracts (figure end of this chapter for details). Most indicator sets refer 10.1). The rankings for comparator economies and the to a case scenario in the largest business city of an regional average ranking provide other useful economy, except for 11 economies for which the data benchmarks for assessing the efficiency of contract are a population-weighted average of the 2 largest enforcement in Singapore. Figure 10.1 How Singapore and comparator economies rank on the ease of enforcing contracts Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2015 Singapore 70 ENFORCING CONTRACTS Economies in all regions have improved contract reducing backlogs by introducing periodic reviews to enforcement in recent years. A judiciary can be improved clear inactive cases from the docket and by making in different ways. Higher-income economies tend to look procedures faster. What reforms making it easier (or for ways to enhance efficiency by introducing new more difficult) to enforce contracts has Doing Business technology. Lower-income economies often work on recorded in Singapore (table 10.1)? Table 10.1 How has Singapore made enforcing contracts easier—or not? By Doing Business report year from DB2010 to DB2015 DB year Reform Singapore made enforcing contracts easier by introducing a DB2015 new electronic litigation system that streamlines litigation proceedings. Note: For information on reforms in earlier years (back to DB2005), see the Doing Business reports for these years, available at http://www.doingbusiness.org. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2015 Singapore 71 ENFORCING CONTRACTS What are the details? The indicators reported here for Singapore are based COURT NAME on a set of specific procedural steps required to resolve a standardized commercial dispute through the courts (see the section in this chapter on what Claim value: SGD 128,630 the indicators cover). These procedures, and the time and cost of completing them, are identified through Singapore District Court, study of the codes of civil procedure and other court Court name: Subordinate Court regulations, as well as through questionnaires completed by local litigation lawyers (and, in a City: Singapore quarter of the economies covered by Doing Business, by judges as well). Table 10.2 Summary of time, cost and procedures for enforcing a contract in Singapore East Asia & Indicator Singapore Pacific average Time (days) 150 554 Filing and service 6 Trial and judgment 118 Enforcement of judgment 26 Cost (% of claim) 25.8 48.6 Attorney cost (% of claim) 20.9 Court cost (% of claim) 2.8 Enforcement Cost (% of claim) 2.1 Procedures (number) 21 37 Number of procedures (without bonus points) 23 Electronic filing of court cases -1 Specialized commercial courts -1 Total number of procedures (including bonus points) 21 Doing Business 2015 Singapore 72 No. Procedures Filing and service: Plaintiff requests payment: Plaintiff or his lawyer asks Defendant orally or in writing to comply with the 1 contract. 2 Plaintiff hires a lawyer: Plaintiff hires a lawyer. Plaintiff files a summons and complaint: Plaintiff files a summons and complaint with the court (orally or * in writing). Plaintiff pays court fees: Plaintiff pays court fees (e.g. court duties, stamp duties, or any other type of court * fees). Answer ‘yes’ even if Plaintiff recovers these costs. Registration of court case: Registration of court case by the court administration (this can include 3 assigning a reference number to the case). Assignment of court case to a judge: Assignment of court case to a judge (through a random procedure, * automated system, ruling of an administrative judge, court officer, etc). Arrangements for physical delivery of summons and complaint: Plaintiff takes the necessary steps to * arrange for physical service of process on Defendant (e.g. instructing a court officer or a private bailiff). Attempt at physical delivery: An attempt to physically deliver summons and complaint to Defendant is 4 made. * Proof of service: Plaintiff submits proof of service to court, as required by law or standard practice. Trial and judgment: Defendant files an answer to Plaintiff’s claim: Defendant files a written pleading which includes his answer 5 or defense on the merits of the case (see assumption 4). Plaintiff’s written reply to Defendant's answer: Plaintiff responds to Defendant’s answer with a written 6 pleading, which may or may not include witness statements or expert (witness) statements. Filing of written submissions: Plaintiff and Defendant file written pleadings and submissions with the court 7 and transmit copies of the written pleadings or submissions to one another. The pleadings may or may not include witness statements or expert (witness) statements. Pre-trial conference on procedure: The judge meets with the parties to discuss procedural issues (for 8 example which applications and motions parties intend to file, which documents parties intend to rely on, etc.). Request for oral hearing or trial: Plaintiff lists the case for trial on the court’s calendar or applies for the 9 date(s) for the oral hearing or trial. * Setting of date(s) for oral hearing or trial: Judge sets the date(s) for the oral hearing or trial. Pre-trial conference aimed at preparing for trial: The judge meets with parties to make practical 10 arrangements for the trial (for example, the number of witnesses parties intend to call on during trial, how much time each party is given to present oral arguments etc.). * List of (expert) witnesses: The parties file a list of (expert) witnesses with the court (see assumption 5-a). Doing Business 2015 Singapore 73 No. Procedures Trial (prevalent in common law): The parties argue the merits of the case at (an) oral session(s) before the 11 court. Witnesses and expert witnesses are questioned and cross-examined during trial. Order for submission of final arguments: The judge sets a deadline for the submission of final factual and 12 legal arguments. Final arguments: The parties present their final factual and legal arguments to the court either by oral * presentation or by a written submission. 13 Notification of judgment in court: The parties are notified of the judgment at a court hearing. Registration of judgment: The court office registers the judgment after receiving a written copy of the 14 judgment. Appeal period: By law Defendant has the opportunity to appeal the judgment during a specified period. 15 Defendant decides not to appeal. Seller decides to start enforcing the judgment when the appeal period ends (see assumption 8). Order for reimbursement by Defendant of Plaintiff's court fees: The judgment orders Defendant to 16 reimburse Plaintiff for the court fees Plaintiff has advanced, because Defendant has lost the case. Enforcement of judgment: Plaintiff hires a lawyer: Plaintiff hires a lawyer to enforce the judgment or continues to be represented by * a lawyer during the enforcement of judgment phase. Plaintiff requests an enforcement order: Plaintiff applies to the court to obtain the enforcement order * ('seal' on judgment). 17 Plaintiff advances enforcement fees: Plaintiff pays the fees related to the enforcement of the judgment. Delivery of enforcement order: The court's enforcement order is delivered to a court enforcement officer * or a private bailiff. 18 Plaintiff identifies Defendant's assets for attachment: Plaintiff identifies Defendant's assets for attachment. Attachment: Defendant’s movable goods are attached (physically or by registering, marking or separating 19 assets). Report on execution of attachment: A court enforcement officer or private bailiff delivers a report on the 20 attachment of Defendant's movable goods to the judge. 21 Sale through public auction: The Defendant’s movable property is sold at public auction. Distribution of proceeds: The proceeds of the public auction are distributed to Plaintiff (and, where 22 applicable, to other creditors, according to the rules of priority). Reimbursement of Plaintiff’s enforcement fees: Defendant reimburses Plaintiff's enforcement fees which 23 Plaintiff had advanced previously. * Not counted in the total number of procedures. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2015 Singapore 74 RESOLVING INSOLVENCY A robust bankruptcy system functions as a filter, WHAT THE RESOLVING INSOLVENCY ensuring the survival of economically efficient INDICATORS MEASURE companies and reallocating the resources of inefficient ones. Fast and cheap insolvency proceedings result in the speedy return of businesses Time required to recover debt (years) to normal operation and increase returns to Measured in calendar years creditors. By improving the expectations of creditors Appeals and requests for extension are and debtors about the outcome of insolvency included proceedings, well-functioning insolvency systems can facilitate access to finance, save more viable Cost required to recover debt (% of debtor’s businesses and thereby improve growth and estate) sustainability in the economy overall. Measured as percentage of estate value What do the indicators cover? Court fees Doing Business studies the time, cost and outcome of Fees of insolvency administrators insolvency proceedings involving domestic legal Lawyers’ fees entities. These variables are used to calculate the recovery rate, which is recorded as cents on the Assessors’ and auctioneers’ fees dollar recouped by secured creditors through Other related fees reorganization, liquidation or debt enforcement (foreclosure) proceedings. To determine the present Outcome value of the amount recovered by creditors, Doing Whether business continues operating as a Business uses the lending rates from the International going concern or business assets are sold Monetary Fund, supplemented with data from piecemeal central banks and the Economist Intelligence Unit. Recovery rate for creditors In addition, Doing Business evaluates the adequacy Measures the cents on the dollar recovered and integrity of the existing legal framework by secured creditors applicable to liquidation and reorganization proceedings through the strength of insolvency Outcome for the business (survival or not) determines the maximum value that can be framework index. The index tests whether economies recovered adopted internationally accepted good practices in four areas: commencement of proceedings, Official costs of the insolvency proceedings management of debtor’s assets, reorganization are deducted proceedings and creditor participation. Depreciation of furniture is taken into The ranking of the Resolving Insolvency indicator is account based on the recovery rate and the total score of the Present value of debt recovered strength of insolvency framework index. The Strength of insolvency framework index (0- Resolving Insolvency indicator does not measure 16) insolvency proceedings of individuals and financial institutions. The data are derived from survey Sum of the scores of four component indices: responses by local insolvency practitioners and Commencement of proceedings index (0-3) verified through a study of laws and regulations as well as public information on bankruptcy systems. Management of debtor’s assets index (0-6) Reorganization proceedings index (0-3) Creditor participation index (0-4) Doing Business 2015 Singapore 75 RESOLVING INSOLVENCY Where does the economy stand today? Combination of quality regulations and efficient practice According to data collected by Doing Business, Singapore characterize the top-performing economies. How scores 3.0 out of 3 points on the commencement of efficient are insolvency proceedings in Singapore? proceedings index, 4.0 out of 6 points on the According to data collected by Doing Business, resolving management of debtor’s assets index, 0.5 out of 3 points insolvency takes 0.8 years on average and costs 3.0% of on the reorganization proceedings index, and 2.0 out of the debtor’s estate, with the most likely outcome being 4 points on the creditor participation index. Singapore’s that the company will be sold as going concern. The total score on the strength of insolvency framework average recovery rate is 89.7 cents on the dollar. Most index is 9.5 out of 16. indicator sets refer to a case scenario in the largest Globally, Singapore stands at 19 in the ranking of 189 business city of an economy, except for 11 economies for economies on the ease of resolving insolvency (figure which the data are a population-weighted average of the 11.1). The rankings for comparator economies and the 2 largest business cities. See the chapter on distance to regional average ranking provide other useful frontier and ease of doing business ranking at the end of benchmarks for assessing the efficiency of insolvency this profile for more details. proceedings in Singapore. Figure 11.1 How Singapore and comparator economies rank on the ease of resolving insolvency Doing Business 2015 Singapore 76 Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2015 Singapore 77 Figure 11.2 Recovery Rate (0-100) - Singapore Source: Doing Business database. Figure 11.3 Strength of insolvency framework index (0-16) - Singapore Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2015 Singapore 78 LABOR MARKET REGULATION Doing Business measures flexibility in the regulation of Doing Business 2015 presents the data for the labor employment, specifically as it affects the hiring and market regulation indicators in an annex. The report redundancy of workers and the rigidity of working hours. does not present rankings of economies on these This year, for the first time, the indicators measuring indicators nor include the topic in the aggregate distance flexibility in labor market regulations focus on those to frontier score or ranking on the ease of doing affecting the food retail industry, using a standardized business. Detailed data collected on labor market case study of a cashier in a supermarket. Also new is that regulations are available on the Doing Business website Doing Business collects data on regulations applying to (http://www.doingbusiness.org). The data on labor employees hired through temporary-work agencies as market regulations are based on a detailed survey of well as on those applying to permanent employees or employment regulations that is completed by local employees hired on fixed-term contracts. The indicators lawyers and public officials. Employment laws and also cover additional areas of labor market regulation, regulations as well as secondary sources are reviewed to including social protection schemes and benefits as well ensure accuracy. To make the data comparable across as labor disputes. economies, several assumptions about the worker and the business are used. Over the period from 2007 to 2011 improvements were made to align the methodology for the labor market The worker: regulation indicators (formerly the employing workers  Is a cashier in a supermarket or a grocery store indicators) with the letter and spirit of the International  Is a full-time employee Labour Organization (ILO) conventions. Only 6 of the 188  Is not a member of the labor union, unless ILO conventions cover areas measured by Doing membership is mandatory Business: employee termination, weekend work, holiday The business: with pay, night work, protection against unemployment  Is a limited liability company (or the equivalent and medical care and sickness benefits. The Doing in the economy) with 60 employees. Business methodology is fully consistent with these 6  Operates a supermarket or grocery store in the conventions. The ILO conventions covering areas related economy’s largest business city. For 11 to the labor market regulation indicators do not include economies the data are also collected for the the ILO core labor standards—8 conventions covering second largest business city. the right to collective bargaining, the elimination of  Is subject to collective bargaining agreements if forced labor, the abolition of child labor and equitable such agreements cover more than 50% of the treatment in employment practices. food retail sector and they apply even to firms that are not party to them. Between 2009 and 2011 the World Bank Group worked  Abides by every law and regulation but does not with a consultative group—including labor lawyers, grant workers more benefits than those employer and employee representatives, and experts mandated by law, regulation or (if applicable) from the ILO, the Organisation for Economic Co- collective bargaining agreements. operation and Development (OECD), civil society and the private sector—to review the methodology for the labor market regulation indicators and explore future areas of research. A full report with the conclusions of the consultative group is available at: http://www.doingbusiness.org/methodology/employing-workers. Doing Business 2015 Singapore LABOR MARKET REGULATION What are the details? The data reported here for Singapore are based on a Employment laws and regulations as well as secondary detailed survey of labor market regulation that is sources are reviewed to ensure accuracy. completed by local lawyers and public officials. Difficulty of hiring index Difficulty of hiring covers 4 areas: (i) whether fixed-term wage to the average value added per worker. The contracts are prohibited for permanent tasks; (ii) the average value added per worker is the ratio of an maximum cumulative duration of fixed-term contracts; economy’s GNI per capita to the working-age population (iii) the minimum wage for a cashier, age 19, with 1 year as a percentage of the total population. of work experience; and (iv) the ratio of the minimum Difficulty of hiring index Data Fixed-term contracts prohibited for permanent tasks? No Maximum length of a single fixed-term contract (months) No limit Maximum length of fixed-term contracts, including renewals (months) No limit Minimum wage applicable to the worker assumed in the case study 0.00 (US$/month) Ratio of minimum wage to value added per worker 0.00 Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2015 Singapore 80 LABOR MARKET REGULATION Rigidity of hours index Rigidity of hours covers 7 areas: (i) whether the premium for work on a weekly rest day (as a percentage workweek can extend to 50 hours or more (including of hourly pay); (v) whether there are restrictions on night overtime) for 2 months in a year to respond to a work; (vi) whether there are restrictions on weekly seasonal increase in workload; (ii) the maximum number holiday work; and (vii) the average paid annual leave for of days allowed in the workweek; (iii) the premium for workers with 1 year of tenure, 5 years of tenure and 10 night work (as a percentage of hourly pay); (iv) the years of tenure. Rigidity of hours index Data 50-hour workweek allowed for 2 months a year in case of a seasonal Yes increase in workload? Maximum working days per week 6.0 Premium for night work (% of hourly pay) 0% Premium for work on weekly rest day (% of hourly pay) 100% Major restrictions on night work? No Major restrictions on weekly holiday? No Paid annual leave for a worker with 1 year of tenure (in working days) 7.0 Paid annual leave for a worker with 5 years of tenure (in working days) 11.0 Paid annual leave for a worker with 10 years of tenure (in working days) 14.0 Paid annual leave (average for workers with 1, 5 and 10 years of tenure, in 10.7 working days) Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2015 Singapore 81 LABOR MARKET REGULATION Difficulty of redundancy index Difficulty of redundancy index looks at 9 questions: (i) whether the employer needs approval from a third party what the length is in months of the maximum to terminate 1 redundant worker; (vi) whether the probationary period; (ii) whether redundancy is employer needs approval from a third party to terminate disallowed as a basis for terminating workers; (iii) a group of 9 redundant workers; (vii) whether the law whether the employer needs to notify a third party (such requires the employer to reassign or retrain a worker as a government agency) to terminate 1 redundant before making the worker redundant; (viii) whether worker; (iv) whether the employer needs to notify a third priority rules apply for redundancies; and (ix) whether party to terminate a group of 9 redundant workers; (v) priority rules apply for reemployment. Difficulty of redundancy index Data Maximum length of probationary period (months) 6.0 Dismissal due to redundancy allowed by law? Yes Third-party notification if 1 worker is dismissed? No Third-party approval if 1 worker is dismissed? No Third-party notification if 9 workers are dismissed? No Third-party approval if 9 workers are dismissed? No Retraining or reassignment obligation before redundancy? No Priority rules for redundancies? No Priority rules for reemployment? No Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2015 Singapore 82 LABOR MARKET REGULATION Redundancy cost Redundancy cost measures the cost of advance notice requirements and severance payments applicable to a requirements, severance payments and penalties due worker with 1 year of tenure, a worker with 5 years and when terminating a redundant worker, expressed in a worker with 10 years is considered. One month is weeks of salary. The average value of notice recorded as 4 and 1/3 weeks. Redundancy cost indicator (in salary weeks) Data Notice period for redundancy dismissal for a worker with 1 year of tenure 1.0 Notice period for redundancy dismissal for a worker with 5 years of tenure 4.0 Notice period for redundancy dismissal for a worker with 10 years of tenure 4.0 Notice period for redundancy dismissal (average for workers with 1, 5 and 10 years 3.0 of tenure) Severance pay for redundancy dismissal for a worker with 1 year of tenure 0.0 Severance pay for redundancy dismissal for a worker with 5 years of tenure 0.0 Severance pay for redundancy dismissal for a worker with 10 years of tenure 0.0 Severance pay for redundancy dismissal (average for workers with 1, 5 and 10 years 0.0 of tenure) Source: Doing Business database. Social protection schemes and benefits & Labor disputes Doing Business collects data on the existence of Doing Business also assesses the mechanisms available unemployment protection schemes as well as data on to resolve labor disputes. More specifically, it collects whether employers are legally required to provide data on what courts would be competent to hear labor health insurance for employees with permanent disputes and whether the competent court is contracts. specialized in resolving labor disputes. Social protection schemes and benefits & Labor disputes indicator Data Availability of unemployment protection scheme? No Health insurance existing for permanent employees? No Availability of courts or court sections specializing in labor disputes? Yes Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2015 Singapore 83 Doing Business 2015 Singapore 84 DISTANCE TO FRONTIER AND EASE OF DOING BUSINESS RANKING This year’s report presents results for 2 aggregate defined as the total tax rate at the 15th percentile of the measures: the distance to frontier score and the ease of overall distribution for all years included in the analysis. doing business ranking, which for the first time this year For the time to pay taxes the frontier is defined as the is based on the distance to frontier score. The ease of lowest time recorded among all economies that levy the doing business ranking compares economies with one 3 major taxes: profit tax, labor taxes and mandatory another; the distance to frontier score benchmarks contributions, and value added tax (VAT) or sales tax. In economies with respect to regulatory best practice, addition, the cost to export and cost to import for each showing the absolute distance to the best performance year are divided by the GDP deflator, to take the general on each Doing Business indicator. When compared price level into account when benchmarking these across years, the distance to frontier score shows how absolute-cost indicators across economies with different much the regulatory environment for local entrepreneurs inflation trends. The base year for the deflator is 2013 for in an economy has changed over time in absolute terms, all economies. while the ease of doing business ranking can show only In the same formulation, to mitigate the effects of how much the regulatory environment has changed extreme outliers in the distributions of the rescaled data relative to that in other economies. for most component indicators (very few economies Distance to Frontier need 700 days to complete the procedures to start a business, but many need 9 days), the worst performance The distance to frontier score captures the gap between is calculated after the removal of outliers. The definition an economy’s performance and a measure of best of outliers is based on the distribution for each practice across the entire sample of 31 indicators for 10 component indicator. To simplify the process, 2 rules Doing Business topics (the labor market regulation were defined: the 95th percentile is used for the indicators are excluded). For starting a business, for indicators with the most dispersed distributions example, Canada and New Zealand have the smallest (including time, cost, minimum capital and number of number of procedures required (1), and New Zealand the payments to pay taxes), and the 99th percentile is used shortest time to fulfill them (0.5 days). Slovenia has the for number of procedures and number of documents to lowest cost (0.0), and Australia, Colombia and 110 other trade. No outlier was removed for component indicators economies have no paid-in minimum capital bound by definition or construction, including legal requirement (table 15.1 in the Doing Business 2015 index scores (such as the depth of credit information report). index, extent of conflict of interest regulation index and strength of insolvency framework index) and the Calculation of the distance to frontier score recovery rate (figure 15.1 in the Doing Business 2015 Calculating the distance to frontier score for each report). economy involves 2 main steps. First, individual Second, for each economy the scores obtained for component indicators are normalized to a common unit individual indicators are aggregated through simple where each of the 31 component indicators y (except for averaging into one distance to frontier score, first for the total tax rate) is rescaled using the linear each topic and then across all 10 topics: starting a transformation (worst − y)/(worst − frontier). In this business, dealing with construction permits, getting formulation the frontier represents the best performance electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting on the indicator across all economies since 2005 or the minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, third year after data for the indicator were collected for enforcing contracts and resolving insolvency. More the first time. For legal indicators such as those on complex aggregation methods—such as principal getting credit or protecting minority investors, the components and unobserved components —yield a frontier is set at the highest possible value. For the total ranking nearly identical to the simple average used by tax rate, consistent with the use of a threshold in Doing Business . Thus Doing Business uses the simplest 6 calculating the rankings on this indicator, the frontier is 6 See Djankov, Manraj and others (2005). Principal components and unobserved components methods yield a ranking nearly identical to Doing Business 2015 Singapore 85 method: weighting all topics equally and, within each overall tax system. Instead, it is mainly empirical in topic, giving equal weight to each of the topic nature. The nonlinear transformation along with the components . threshold reduces the bias in the indicator toward 7 economies that do not need to levy significant taxes on An economy’s distance to frontier score is indicated on a companies like the Doing Business standardized case scale from 0 to 100, where 0 represents the worst study company because they raise public revenue in performance and 100 the frontier. All distance to frontier other ways—for example, through taxes on foreign calculations are based on a maximum of 5 decimals. companies, through taxes on sectors other than However, indicator ranking calculations and the ease of manufacturing or from natural resources (all of which are doing business ranking calculations are based on 2 outside the scope of the methodology). In addition, it decimals. The difference between an economy’s distance acknowledges the need of economies to collect taxes to frontier score in any previous year and its score in from firms. 2014 illustrates the extent to which the economy has closed the gap to the regulatory frontier over time. And Calculation of scores for economies with 2 cities in any given year the score measures how far an covered economy is from the best performance at that time. For each of the 11 economies for which a second city Treatment of the total tax rate was added in this year’s report, the distance to frontier score is calculated as the population-weighted average This year, for the first time, the total tax rate component of the distance to frontier scores for the 2 cities covered of the paying taxes indicator set enters the distance to (table 12.1). This is done for the aggregate score, the frontier calculation in a different way than any other scores for each topic and the scores for all the indicator. The distance to frontier score obtained for the component indicators for each topic. total tax rate is transformed in a nonlinear fashion before it enters the distance to frontier score for paying taxes. Table 12.1 Weights used in calculating the distance to As a result of the nonlinear transformation, an increase in frontier scores for economies with 2 cities covered the total tax rate has a smaller impact on the distance to Economy City Weight (%) frontier score for the total tax rate—and therefore on the Dhaka 78 distance to frontier score for paying taxes—for Bangladesh Chittagong 22 economies with a below-average total tax rate than it São Paulo 61 would have in the calculation done in previous years (line Brazil Rio de Janeiro 39 B is smaller than line A in figure 15.2 of the Doing Shanghai 55 China Business 2015 report). And for economies with an Beijing 45 extreme total tax rate (a rate that is very high relative to Mumbai 47 India the average), an increase has a greater impact on both Delhi 53 these distance to frontier scores than before (line D is Jakarta 78 Indonesia bigger than line C in figure 15.2 of the Doing Business Surabaya 22 Tokyo 65 2015 report). Japan Osaka 35 The nonlinear transformation is not based on any Mexico City 83 Mexico economic theory of an “optimal tax rate” that minimizes Monterrey 17 distortions or maximizes efficiency in an economy’s Lagos 77 Nigeria Kano 23 Karachi 65 Pakistan that from the simple average method because both these methods Lahore 35 assign roughly equal weights to the topics, since the pairwise Moscow 70 Russian Federation correlations among indicators do not differ much. An alternative to the St. Petersburg 30 simple average method is to give different weights to the topics, New York 60 depending on which are considered of more or less importance in the United States Los Angeles 40 context of a specific economy. Source: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social 7 For getting credit, indicators are weighted proportionally, according to their contribution to the total score, with a weight of 60% assigned Affairs, Population Division, World Urbanization Prospects, to the strength of legal rights index and 40% to the depth of credit 2014 Revision. http://esa.un.org/unpd/wup/CD- information index. Indicators for all other topics are assigned equal ROM/Default.aspx. weights Doing Business 2015 Singapore 86 Economies that improved the most across 3 or more Selecting the economies that implemented regulatory Doing Business topics in 2013/14 reforms in at least 3 topics and had the biggest improvements in their distance to frontier scores is Doing Business 2015 uses a simple method to calculate intended to highlight economies with ongoing, broad- which economies improved the ease of doing business based reform programs. The improvement in the the most. First, it selects the economies that in 2013/14 distance to frontier score is used to identify the top implemented regulatory reforms making it easier to do improvers because this allows a focus on the absolute business in 3 or more of the 10 topics included in this improvement—in contrast with the relative improvement year’s aggregate distance to frontier score. Twenty-one shown by a change in rankings—that economies have economies meet this criterion: Azerbaijan; Benin; the made in their regulatory environment for business. Democratic Republic of Congo; Côte d’Ivoire; the Czech Republic; Greece; India; Ireland; Kazakhstan; Lithuania; the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia; Poland; Ease of Doing Business ranking Senegal; the Seychelles; Spain; Switzerland; Taiwan, China; Tajikistan; Togo; Trinidad and Tobago; and the The ease of doing business ranking ranges from 1 to 189. United Arab Emirates. Second, Doing Business sorts these The ranking of economies is determined by sorting the economies on the increase in their distance to frontier aggregate distance to frontier scores, rounded to 2 score from the previous year using comparable data. decimals. Doing Business 2015 Singapore 87 RESOURCES ON THE DOING BUSINESS WEBSITE Current features Law library News on the Doing Business project Online collection of business laws and regulations http://www.doingbusiness.org relating to business http://www.doingbusiness.org/law-library Rankings How economies rank—from 1 to 189 Contributors http://www.doingbusiness.org/rankings More than 10,700 specialists in 189 economies who participate in Doing Business Data http://www.doingbusiness.org/contributors/doing- All the data for 189 economies—topic rankings, business indicator values, lists of regulatory procedures and details underlying indicators Entrepreneurship data http://www.doingbusiness.org/data Data on business density (number of newly registered companies per 1,000 working-age Reports people) for 139 economies Access to Doing Business reports as well as http://www.doingbusiness.org/data/exploretopics/ent subnational and regional reports, reform case repreneurship studies and customized economy and regional profiles Distance to frontier http://www.doingbusiness.org/reports Data benchmarking 189 economies to the frontier in regulatory practice Methodology http://www.doingbusiness.org/data/distance-to- The methodologies and research papers underlying frontier Doing Business http://www.doingbusiness.org/methodology Information on good practices Showing where the many good practices identified Research by Doing Business have been adopted Abstracts of papers on Doing Business topics and http://www.doingbusiness.org/data/good-practice related policy issues http://www.doingbusiness.org/research Doing Business iPhone App Doing Business at a Glance—presenting the full Doing Business reforms report, rankings and highlights for each topic for Short summaries of DB2015 business regulation the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch reforms, lists of reforms since DB2008 and a ranking http://www.doingbusiness.org/specialfeatures/ simulation tool iphone http://www.doingbusiness.org/reforms Historical data Customized data sets since DB2004 http://www.doingbusiness.org/custom-query Doing Business 2015 Singapore 88